


Glowing Eyes

by squop



Category: Be More Chill
Genre: AAAA HOW DO I DO THIS, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, I have no idea how to tag, I mean same but, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Jeremy based, M/M, Michael and Jeremy are oblivious, Mutual Pining, Ok so I changed the plot 5 chapters in bc I'm an idiot, Squip is confused, There's a lot of Squip here, jenna and Brooke are here but mentioned mostly, most of these will be probablys bc I have no idea where I'm going with this, only a little bit in CH 11!! Do not worry, probably, so expect some inconsistencies. If you find any tell me, squip redemption arc, the Squip is really confused now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2018-11-08 16:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11085357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squop/pseuds/squop
Summary: Jeremy has barely stumbled his way through the play and is ready to forge some new friendships when someone he hoped he'd never see again comes tumbling right back into his life and, well, existence.Jeremy has been offered a second chance, but now, it's his turn to give it.As his life becomes even more tangled with newfound friends, foes, and feelings, Jeremy has a billion questions.The most important might just end up being what it takes to be redeemed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and I have no idea what I'm doing whoop  
> Chapters will probably be short and I'm sorry

The ground was cold, cold and hard, as backstage usually is. Jeremy's hands scrabbled on the smooth concrete, looking for something to hold on to, something, anything, to ground himself.  
In his head the Squip's terrified screams pounded against his skull like a sledgehammer.  
He didn't know the thing could be scared. It felt good, satisfying, to inflict just a touch of what he'd felt for the past few months.  
As the Squip's screaming tapered out into a quiet ringing in his ears, he forced himself to stand on wobbly numb legs.  
Almost immediately, his knees buckled with a weird noise and he found himself pitching towards the floor-  
His face collided with something soft and warm and he felt thick arms wrap around his shoulders.   
"Jeremy! Jeremy, talk to me!" Michael's voice sounded fuzzy and far away, but it was there. Jeremy found himself clutching the fabric of Michael's red hoodie like a lifeline, breathing heavily. It was a few seconds before he could raise his head enough to make eye contact with his b- ex best- god, he.... he didn't know what Michael even thought of him.  
"H-hey, Michael." He shivered as a few excess shocks of electricity raced through him, remnants of the Squip's attack on him in an attempt to save itself.   
Michael should drop him.  
Instead, he was pulled to his feet and pulled into a tight embrace.  
"Jeremy- Jeremy oh my god, I thought you were dead." Jeremy laughed weakly and attempted to get at least a little bit of his weight off of Michael.  
"Nope, still here, unfortunately." The words stung. Michael's eyes met his, and they looked so... so scared. It hurt. Jeremy finally found his balance and wobbled to his feet, regaining his few inches above Michael.  
His voice cracking, Michael stared at him.  
"Is it.... gone?"  
"Who...? Oh, the- the squip. Yeah, it's gone, I think."  
"You think?!"  
"Well- it was screaming, and I can't hear it now, so..." Jeremy rubbed his neck and surveyed the room. All around him, the recently squipped kids were stumbling and scrambling to their feet. Now that the ringing in his ears had cleared up, Jeremy could hear all the stammering around. Everyone was in some state of panic, whether it was just shaking or borderline screaming.  
And it was all his fault.  
Everything came rolling back, like a tidal wave crashing into his brain. Giving everyone Squips. The squip encouraging him with a grin. Controlling Christine.   
Jeremy managed to scramble away from Michael, who stared fearfully and started after him.  
"I- I'm sorry!" He yelled, turning everyone's eyes on him. Clutching at his head, he tried to blink away the tears bubbling up.  
"I didn't want this. I never wanted this. I'm so sorry, this is all my fault."  
There was dead silence, except for Jeremy's rough breathing.  
"It's not your fault, Jeremy." Jeremy glanced up to find Christine, leaning on the wall weakly but eyes as full of determination as always.  
"I don't know what just happened... exactly. But whatever it is... I don't blame you."  
The rest of the kids mumbled something along the same lines of Christine's speech, which finally brought Jeremy to tears. He sunk to his knees, covering his face.  
Crying wasn't cool, his whiny voice wasn't cool. What was he doing?  
No.  
He didn't have to be cool.   
The squip was gone, and for good.  
He wheezed for a second before he heard someone lean in front of him.  
"Jeremy. Come on." He glanced up, finding Michael inches from his own face. The other boy reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder, and Jeremy tried to calm the fluttering in his chest.   
"You're ok." He insisted. Jeremy sniffled and looked away. Michael grabbed his face and turned it towards him, causing his eyes to widen.  
"Look at me. All of this? This is that Hellish computer's fault. Not. Yours."   
Jeremy nodded blankly.  
Michael gave him a smile and pulled him to his feet again.  
"Come on. I'll drive you home."


	2. The Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy can't sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who am I  
> I wrote this at 1 am sorry if it's shabby  
> Constructive criticism is nice!

Jeremy barely remembered being slumped in the passenger seat, his head pressed against the cold window. Michael had been talking about something, but he hadn't been listening.  
His head just felt distance. It fizzed with white noise and dull colors. Everything was so blank.  
"....emey. Jeremy." Jeremy jolted back to reality with a gasp as he felt Michael tapping on his shoulder.  
"Y-yeah?"  
"This is your place, dude."  
Jeremy's eyes widened.  
"Y-yeah, right. Uh- thanks. Michael. For driving me." He cringed, but quickly felt Michael's hand on his arm.  
"Hey. Hey. You're alright." He glanced up warily, but only found the other boy giving him a warm smile.  
It made Jeremy's insides churn in a weird way.  
"...Jeremy?" Crap, he was staring.  
"Uh, yeah thanks. Sorry, just..." he rubbed his head.  
"I get it. Get some sleep, okay?" Jeremy nodded a little to quickly and scrambled for the car handle, letting himself out of the car. He was only a few steps away when-  
"Jeremy, your phone." Michael waved a battered iPhone out the window. Jeremy squeaked and scuttled back to grab it, mumbling something. Michael only handed him the phone and squeezed his hand with a lopsided grin. Jeremy bit his lip at the flush that threatened to reveal itself on the back of his neck and gave a shaky wave.  
As he trotted up the steps to his house, he heard Michael's old pt cruiser crunch over the gravely road as he drove away. Squeezing his eyes shut, he pushed open the door and shut it carefully behind him.  
On the couch in the main room, his dad was watching some antique show. As usual, he wasn't wearing any pants. Jeremy held back a bitter groan and used the audio as cover to sneak up the stairs, across the hall, and creak open the door to his room.  
"Jeremy?"  
Darn.  
"Y-yeah?"  
"How was school?"  
"School was great, as always. But I'm really tired, so. Bye."  
He flinched as he shut the door a little too hastily, but didn't mull over it too much. As the events of the day hung over him like a huge, billowing black cloud, Jeremy grabbed his headphones off of the table and plugged them in, blasting one of Michael's nostalgia playlists loud enough to drown out his thoughts.  
He'd tried this with the squip once or twice, which frequently resulted in shocks or the squip yelling over the music. Jeremy's eyes flickered to the inside of his wrist, where faint electricity scars were beginning to form. No doubt there were some on his back, too.  
It took all of his strength not to scream profanities at the squip and everything it made him do, but he held back and turned up the music a few more notches. 

Jeremy didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, eyes glazed over as the music poured into his probably deaf ears. When he finally blinked, tearing up as his eyes stung, he checked his phone clock.  
8:36 PM.  
The play had ended, or rather come to a screeching halt around 7. Michael had driven him home, which clocked his disassociation at about an hour. Nice.  
He opened his phone, drilling in the digits effortlessly.  
5 notifications, 3 from Michael, 2 from rich.  
He went for Rich's first, which would probably be easier to answer.  
7:46 [Rich] Yo dude, I heard what happened at the play. U ok?  
8:12 [Rich] Jeremy?  
Jeremy sighed.  
[Jeremy is online]  
8:37 [Jeremy] I'm fine  
8:37 [Jeremy] squips gone  
8:38 [Jeremy] I think  
[Rich is typing....]  
8:38 [Rich] damn, about time. I heard everyone was screaming and stuff  
8:38 [Jeremy] yeah. Squip took control of most of the other actors. Did some pretty nasty stuff too  
8:39 [Rich] yeah Jake filled me in  
8:39 [Rich] anyways I'm getting discharged from this hellspital soon  
8:39 [Rich] we can hang out and talk shit about squips sometime  
8:39 [Rich] or just talk. Up to you  
8:40 [Jeremy] yeah that sounds cool  
8:40 [Rich] ok but anyways you should get some sleep  
8:40 [Rich] since you've been through literal hell  
8:42 [Jeremy] ill try  
8:42 [Jeremy] night rich  
8:42 [Rich] night Jeremy  
One upside to the squip incident was now Jeremy and Rich were somewhat friends. Well, certainly more than the shove you in the hall and never talk kind of people.  
Jeremy braced himself and opened Michael's inbox.  
5:48 [Michael] You probably have me blocked but I'm coming to your show  
Jeremy winced as a shiver raced across his back.  
6:12 [Michael] IS THE WHOLE CAST SQUIPPED  
6:12 [Michael] coming back  
[two new messages]  
8:38 [Michael] it says you're online  
8:38 [Michael] go to sleep before I walk to your house and force you  
8:39 [Jeremy] sorry  
[Michael is typing...]  
8:39 [Michael] don't say sorry  
8:39 [Michael] just sleep  
8:40 [Jeremy] ok  
8:40 [Jeremy] good night  
8:41 [Michael] good night jerebear  
[Jeremy is offline]  
Jeremy giggled at the corny nickname and poignantly ignored the warmth that blossomed in his chest. He quickly changed into some old gym clothes, more or less poured toothpaste into his mouth, and flopped onto the poorly made bed. Minutes after burrowing into the covers, Jeremy succumbed to the sleep that had been pulling on him for hours.  
Jeremy yawned as he sat up in his bed, bright orange light streaming from under the doorway. He swung his feet out of bed, stretching and grabbing his phone off of the nightstand.  
Wait.  
Bright orange light under the doorway?  
Jeremy's eyebrows dropped, and he carefully made his way to the door and opened it. The hallway was filled with fire.  
Jeremy screamed and leapt back, eyes wide. Oh god, oh god. What did he do? He was trapped. He frantically ran to the bathroom and turned on the water, scooping some up in his hands and flinging it helplessly into the fire. This only resulted in an eruption of crackling sparks and a wave of heat so terrifyingly intense that it threw Jeremy to the floor.  
In a last ditch attempt to survive, he ran to the window and yanked it open.  
Then he heard the voices.  
"Jeremy!"  
"Michael?!" He yelled over the rippling smoke. What was Michael doing here?  
"Jeremy, what did you do?"  
"I didn't do anything, what are you-"  
"Jeremy, why did you set the fire?" Christine?  
"Jeremy! Why?" Jake?  
"Jeremy, I trusted you." Brooke?  
"Jeremy, why did you do this?" Jenna?  
And then they were there. All in the hallway, bodies jet black and burned to a crisp. The only thing different was their eyes, bright and clear and blue. They hobbled towards the door as tears streamed down Jeremy's face.  
"You did this. You're to blame." They chanted. Then at the last second, they all dissolved.  
A strange high pitched voice range out. "Jeremy!" It was familiar but so, so foreign.  
Then a kid came barreling though the flames. Burnt, black, and flaking, the boy collapsed at Jeremy's feet. He looked up, and the last thing Jeremy saw were the bright blue glowing eyes of the squip.  
Jeremy sat up in bed, shaking and drenched in sweat. It took him a few minutes of clutching the bedsheets with white knuckles to confirm that nothing was real. He was safe.  
But it had felt so real.  
Had the squip done this? Probably.  
Jeremy checked his phone.  
1:48 AM  
Fantastic.  
Jeremy carefully laid back down, rolling out of the sweat puddle to the almost nonexistent dry part. Maybe he could still salvage some sleep.  
Jeremy laid there for the rest of the night, eyes never closing longer than a blink.


	3. Nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this is actually pretty long gee  
> Um yeah I love Jake and I love Christine so
> 
> Sorry if this is ooc ehh

Jeremy checked his phone.  
FRIDAY 6:21  
"Good morning, time to start the day." He mumbled through his dry mouth. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he wobbled over to the mirror. His hair was a fantastic mess, a curly mass that would probably have to be doused in gel. Closer inspection revealed terrifyingly dark eye-bags and brittle chapped lips.  
"Lovely." He muttered, pulling off his shirt. He instinctively went for the squip's 'cool kid clothes', but stopped as his hand hovered over them.  
Jeremy quickly grabbed an old striped polo he hadn't worn in what felt like years and jeans, a sendoff to the squip's 'cool Jeremy.'  
Pulling them on, he stumbled over to the sink and dumped gel on his hair, managing to tame it with a comb to the point of presentability. Yanking on his dusty sneakers, Jeremy grabbed his bag and trotted down the stairs. Unsurprisingly, his dad wasn't up yet. He poured himself a bowl of off-brand cereal and ate it silently, before tossing it in the sink and hurrying off to catch the bus.  
The ride to school was a bit better than he expected. Granted, that didn't make it great, but it didn't suck. He let his head wobble against the window with the shaking of the bus, ignoring the clamor behind him. Drumming his fingers up and down the rough metal, Jeremy let his mind wander aimlessly until the bus pulled up to the school and he was caught in the bustle of students frantic to get off.  
Wobbling and tired, he meandered his way through the hallway until he got to his locker. The dull grey metal was almost reassuring, the same as always no matter what freaky computer pill Jeremy got.  
"Jeremy!" Michael's voice rang out, and he felt someone squeeze his shoulder.  
"How'd you sleep last night."  
Jeremy waited a moment before turning, letting his sagging shoulders and horrendous eyebags answer the question.  
Michael inhaled sharply.  
"Jesus, dude, you look like you got ripped right out of Apocalypse of the Damned. What'd you do, get off all night?"  
Jeremy managed a wimpy chuckle.  
Michael frowned and his eyebrows furrowed.  
"Ok but really, what's up with you?"  
Jeremy thought back to the dream.  
He shrugged.  
"Just couldn't sleep." Michael looked completely unconvinced.  
"Jeremyyyyyyy." He trailed off, putting his head on Jeremy's shoulder.  
Jeremy sighed and dipped his head, knocking with Michael's. Something in his chest rippled.  
"I dont know, dude. I'm sorry."  
Michael let out a breath that smelled faintly of Diet Coke.  
"Fine. I just got you back, don't die on me." Michael pulled away and Jeremy wilted inside.  
What the heck? What was that all about?  
The bell rang, and they both glanced up.  
"First period. Good luck." Michael grinned, before knocking his shoulder and trotted away. Jeremy subconsciously touched the spot where Michael had knocked him, blinking.  
Then he scurried off to class, bag in tow.  
\---  
"Jeremy." An alarm bell chimed in Jeremy's head.  
"Uh, h-hey, Christine." He mumbled, shoving his clammy hands in his pockets awkwardly. She'd cornered him after second period, and Jeremy was suddenly extremely aware of how shabby he looked.  
"Woah, yikes, you look awful." Jeremy winced and very much wished he could melt into the floor. Christine's eyes widened.  
"Nono! Not like that! Just..." She twiddled her fingers.  
"You look like you haven't slept in years. Are you... ok?" Jeremy huffed.  
"I- I'm fine, Christine. Really." Just like Michael, Christine looked incredibly unconvinced.  
"Are you really sure, Jeremy? It's understandable, with everything that happened." Jeremy looked away.  
"It's nothing. Can we just- talk about something else." Christine sighed and shrugged.  
"Alright, I'll take your word for it. I'm the meantime...." She stared at the ground for a moment, before perking up and staring at him with an impish grin. 'Uh oh' was all that crossed Jeremy's mind.  
"So...." She trailed off, rubbing her hands together.  
"Looks like you've got a crush."  
"Uh- what?"  
"Don't think I didn't see that little charade in the hallway." She chuckled, and Jeremy couldn't help but crack a nervous grin.  
"I don't... know... what you're talking about." He muttered carefully. A crush on someone in the hallway? He hadn't talked to Christine all morning.  
Christine gave him a pouty look.  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah...? Is there- is something going on that I'm not aware of?"  
Christine sighed.  
"I'll let you mull over it a bit. Come talk to me when you figure it out!" She hopped onto her toes and gave Jeremy a cheesy grin, before skipping away, leaving him stammering and confused.  
Who the heck had she been talking about? Someone in the hallway?  
The bell rang, rudely breaking off his thoughts and leaving him sprinting to next period.  
He barely managed to stumble through the door and take the tardy without sprinting away, ignoring the quiet giggling that rippled through the room. He selected a seat in the back, squeezing his eyes shut in annoyance.  
Is this what he'd been like before the squip?  
Jeremy winced at the thought. Just yesterday he'd been cool. And now he'd been plucked off of the hierarchy and plopped at the bottom. Again.  
"Get out your textbooks and turn to page 86." The teacher commanded, and Jeremy subconsciously followed the command.  
The paper was all about Shakespeare, conveniently. Jeremy stared at it, not reading a single word.  
His mind flashed back to the play. The squip still lingered on his thoughts almost all the time.  
He almost missed it.  
Jeremy clamped down on that thought and aggressively turned his attention to what Christine had said. She'd said he'd looked awful. No surprises there. Jeremy did feel painfully tired thanks to last night's epidemic, but he was sure he could walk it off. He'd pulled all nighters before, once to finish a Biology Essay he'd had a week to do. He owed Michael big time for that one. Speaking of Michael, he wondered where he was. Michael had PE right now, correct? Jeremy felt bad for him. PE was awful, especially with their ragtag confused coach who probably should not be around children. That coach ha d b een hir ed two y ea rs... a go ...... for......

"Mr. Heere."  
What?  
"Mr. Heere." the voice repeated more firmly.  
Jeremy sat bolt upright in his desk. Was the squip back? What was going on-  
He came face to face with his bushy bearded English teacher, who looked unimpressed.  
"Class is dismissed, Mr. Heere."  
"Oh. Yeah. Thanks." He grabbed his bag and hurried out of the classroom to lunch, feeling very much like a mess. He'd fallen asleep. Wow, he really was a wreck. Tossing his bag to the side, he almost trotted down his usual path to the cool kids table, but stopped. He wasn't one of them anymore. They'd just ridicule his English stunt and eyebags anyway. Carefully, he made his way over to Michael. He lit up as Jeremy sat down, grinning.  
"Hey! It's been a while." He said, pulling his headphones out of his ears.  
"Yeah...." Jeremy mumbled, not meeting his eyes and probably looking like a kicked puppy. Michael frowned.  
"Come on, dude. It's fine." What Jeremy did wasn't fine. They both knew that.  
"Jeremy." He looked up. Michael was staring at him.  
"Whatever." He mumbled, laying his head down on the table. Michael sighed.  
"How are you holding up?"  
"What?"  
"You seem like really tired." Jeremy gave a dry chuckle.  
"Was late to English, and then fell asleep for like half of it."  
"Ech," Michael said. "Get some sleep, man."  
"Totally didn't try." Michael picked up on the sarcasm and gave him a light poke.  
"Jeremy, you need sleep," he said through a mouthful of cafeteria food. Jeremy only managed to poke at his.  
"I know." He mumbled, eyelids drooping. Suddenly there was a loud THWUCK as a hand slammed on the table, causing Jeremy and Michael to jump.  
"Sup dudes!" A familiar voice said as crutches were leaned against the table and Jake slid into the seat across from them.  
"J-Jake?" Michael managed to stammer, surprise in his voice.  
"Why are you sitting with... us?" Jake stretched and took a swig of the sprite he'd brought with him.  
"Turns out you two aren't so bad! Plus Rich likes you, and a friend of my friend is also my friend." Michael's eyebrows raised to the point where Jeremy thought they might float off of his face.  
"How do we- uh, no offense, but- how do we know that this isn't... a prank?" Michael asked carefully. Jake shrugged.  
"Eh. I've got no straight proof, I guess, but you seem cool." His voice dropped and his face hardened.  
"Also my usual group is being total assholes about the show."  
Jeremy's gaze dropped. Jake caught his look and stared at him with a tired grin.  
"Hey, man. Don't beat yourself up about it." He gave a soft laugh. "No offense to Christine, love that girl, but that show wasn't gonna be great no matter what we did. Please. We're a high school." This managed to coax a soft laugh out of Jeremy and Michael's eyes curled up in a grin.  
"That's what tipped me off, actually. No way that show could be as good as it was." Jake laughed.  
"I never did thank you for saving our asses from a computer with word domination plans." He held out a fist, and Michael grinned and bumped it. Jeremy remained silent, feet tapping anxiously. He'd done that to Jake. He'd made him hurt like that.  
Jake glanced at him.  
"Dude, you ok? You look like-"  
"Yes, yes, I know. I look dead." Jeremy spat, before recoiling.  
"Agh- crap- I- I'm sorry!" He said, burying his head in his hands. Jake looked stunned for a second before shaking it off and waving his hand.  
"Nah dude, it's all good. You really should get some sleep."  
"I'll try."  
The students chatted lightly and exchanged phone numbers. Jeremy found himself liking Jake a lot, even if he was still a bit wary and guilty. Michael had taken a shine to him as well. It was strange. He wasn't cool, but he almost didn't seem to mind.  
The end of lunch bell rang, and the three got up to empty their plates. Jeremy had fourth period Biology with Michael, luckily enough. Hoisting his bag strap higher on his shoulder, Jeremy trailed idly after Michael. He found himself stumbling after a minute and almost tiredly walked into a wall until the other boy grabbed him.  
"Jeremy! Buddy, stay with me," Michael said, holding his arm with one hand. Jeremy shook his head to clear the cloud of sleepiness and gave him a thumbs up. Michael huffed and let go, proceeding down to the Biology room. As they entered, Jeremy was struck by the smell of something burning. Oh boy.  
The class passed in a blur. Jeremy wasn't quite sure what was going on half the time, but he did remember a couple of beakers exploded into clouds of smoke and glass shards. The science teacher looked like he wanted to jump out the window multiple times.  
Just when things were going smoothly, Jeremy accidentally knocked his beaker, causing it to shatter and throw a cloud of ashy dust into his face. The science teacher smacked his face into his textbook, and Jeremy sat there, eyes wide and face dusty black.  
After class, Michael was clutching his sides in laughter at Jeremy's charcoal face and managed to snap a pick, which resulted in Jeremy smearing ash all over Michael's nose. Their ash fight quickly devolved into a fight over Michael's phone, with Jeremy shouting, "Delete that!" and Michael refusing. Eventually they separated, out of breath, with Michael the victor. Jeremy, red faced, trotted off to the bathroom to clean his face. While standing in front of the mirror, he stared at his now fluffy hair and sighed before splashing his face with the water, once again ignoring the mysterious backflips his gut was doing. Maybe he was sick.  
It took a dead sprint while wiping his face on his jacket, but he made it to fifth period on time.  
The rest of the day passed in the expected manor, with Jeremy only drifting off once or twice. As the bell rang for the weekend, Jeremy ran into Christine again.  
"Oh! Hello Jeremy!" She grinned.  
Jeremy waved, flustered.  
"Did you figure out what I was talking about?"  
Jeremy shook his head. Christine gave him a look.  
"Oh Jeremy, I never pegged you as the oblivious type."  
"Oblivious? To what?"  
Christine stared blankly at the wall for a moment.  
"Alright." She stretched her hands in front of her.  
"Did you feel weird at all today?"  
Jeremy's cheeks reddened and he rubbed the back of his neck.  
"Well, yeah, but that's normal, right?"  
"Well, be more in depth. Did you feel weird around anyone specific?" Jeremy shrugged.  
"Never really thought about it that much." Christine looked pitying. Jeremy wrung his hands.  
"Who's the most beautiful person you know?" She tried.  
"Well, you, obv-" Jeremy yelped and covered his face.  
"Aww, thank you! You're too sweet." Christine grinned and intertwined her fingers under her chin.  
"But from what I've seen... Let's see. Does your stomach ever feel like it flips?"  
Jeremy peeked out from behind his hands.  
"Uh... Yeah, a lot today, actually." He said, eyebrows raising. Was that because of some crush?  
"Who did it happen around?"  
Jeremy shrugged.  
"Well, I haven't really talked to anyone today. I mean, I talked to Jake, and you. And I didn't feel super weird. Oh, and also Michael, and I felt kind of weird around him, but-" He cut off as the air flew out of him like someone punched him. Christine cocked her head with a grin.  
"Oh my god..." Jeremy mumbled, face turning a rather impressive shade of pink.  
"Wait- I... Oh God." He turned and pressed his face into the wall.  
"Come to a conclusion?" Christine said, far too knowingly.  
"I.... I think I might have a crush..."  
"On?" Jeremy gulped.  
"M... Michael." Christine let out a long breath.  
"Finally! Took you long enough."  
Jeremy wheeled around to face her, flushed from head to toe.  
"H-how did you know? Is it really that obvious?"  
"Me and Jenna have been taking bets."  
Jeremy thought he was going to melt.  
"Ohhhhhhhhhh my god." He whispered. Everything made sense. The weird feelings and the squip blocking Michael out and-  
"Wait." Jeremy said, freezing.  
"Does he know?" Christine thought for a second then laughed. The sound was like a bell, clear and pretty.  
"I don't think so. He's almost as oblivious as you."  
Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut. He had just gotten Michael back. Michael had forgiven him after everything he'd done.  
And now...  
"You should talk to him."  
"No!" Jeremy blurted a little too loudly, before shrinking under the gaze of a few curious bystanders.  
"Look, Christine. I- I just... I just got him back. After all the horrible, godawful things I did... He still came back. And I can't lose him again."  
Christine sighed and patted his arm.  
"I'm sure it'll be alright in the end. You'll see." She gave him a trusting smile before checking her phone and squeaking.  
"Whoops, gotta go! Sorry, Jeremy. Have a great weekend!" She hurried away, leaving Jeremy confused and flustered and very very scared.  
"Jeremy!"  
Oh no.  
"H-hey, Michael!" He said quickly, hoping the blush wouldn't show.  
"Was that Christine?"  
"Yeah." He was an actor now. He could do this.  
"Nice. You two are still friends, right?"  
"Uh. Yeah, surprisingly." Michael grinned.  
"Two new friends, huh? And you didn't even have to use the squip."  
Jeremy shrank a little bit, and Michael frowned.  
"Sorry, too soon?"  
"Nah, it's just- I'd like to not think about it. For a while."  
"That's fair. Anyways..." Michael coughed and bounced on his heels.  
"You up for Apocalypse of the Damned? It's been a while." Jeremy caught the nervous glint in his eye.  
"Hell yeah." He responded, leaning against the wall. Michael made a weird noise and wrapped around Jeremy in a quick hug.  
"About time I had my Player one back."  
My Player One.  
Jeremy managed to keep the garbled cluster of words from spilling out of his mouth as he returned the hug.  
Michael pulled away, grinning widely.  
"Alright. Get some sleep. I want you on your A game!" With that he left, and Jeremy was once again confused.  
But maybe, just like Christine had said, things would work out.


	4. Zombie!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy goes to Michael's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey I pulled an all nighter to finish this....  
> Bc I love my boys...  
> If you see any spelling mistakes please tell me!
> 
> Gee these chapters keep getting longer 
> 
> Also @people who leave comments I see you and I love you!!! I hope you have a good day!!!!

Jeremy awoke Saturday morning, wiping his stinging eyes and sitting up. Well, that was a lie. He couldn't wake up if he never slept in the first place. Every inch of him felt like it was on fire, which hit a little too close to home with his recent dream. With a shudder, he pulled on some clothes and went through his morning routine, wearily checking his phone in the meanwhile.  
1 new message.

7:23 [Michael] Hey, what time are you coming over?  
[Jeremy is typing...]  
7:45 [Jeremy] Whenever I get ready I guess.  
Jeremy shoved his phone in his back pocket and finished smoothing his hair down. Stifling a yawn, he grabbed a duffel bag out of the corner of the room and shoved a change of clothes and his tablet in there, careful not to forget the charger this time. It felt like forever since he'd last been over there. What did he even bring? His phone dinged in his pocket.  
7:51 [Michael] wow very specific  
7:52 [Michael] You want to eat over here? Parents restocked the pantry before they took off  
7:52 [Michael] We have lucky charms  
Jeremy laughed quietly.  
7:53 [Jeremy] sounds good  
7:53 [Jeremy] doubt we have anything here anyways  
7:54 [Jeremy] ok I'll walk over  
7:54 [Michael] want me to pick you up?  
7:54 [Jeremy] nah it's fine.  
Hastily plucking the phone charger out of the wall, Jeremy shoved it in his duffel bag and stuck his phone in his pocket. After almost tripping over his shirt from last night, he made it to the doorway. For a moment, he swore it was ablaze, which made him take a sharp breath and recoil. But it wasn't. He was fine. Everything was ok.  
Damn, he needed sleep.  
Taking a deep shuddering breath, he pressed out into the hallway and down the stairs.  
His dad wasn't awake yet.  
Jeremy pulled a sticky note out of a dusty drawer and scribbled on it with a sharpie; Gone to Michael's, before sticking it on the fridge and pocketing the sharpie for later use. Ready to make the short trip to Michael's house, he pulled open the door and stepped out into the driveway, shutting it behind him.  
It was a dull, colorless day with grey clouds smeared across the sky and a chilly afterthought in the wind, making his tee shirt and jeans feel a little thin. Maybe it might keep him awake and from getting hit by a car.  
Trudging down the driveway, he let his feet instinctively follow the path to Michael's house, which even after everything, was still carved into his mind as clear as day. Well, not this day, but like a sunny day.  
He really needed sleep.  
Fishing some dirty white earbuds out of his pocket, he plugged them into his phone with a click and pressed play. His ears were immediately greeted with Evanescence being blasted at two ticks below maximum volume, and it took him a few seconds to realize that the girly shriek was his. Well, that was one way to wake up.  
He swore he saw his neighbor flip him off through the window.  
Walking at a much more hurried pace now, he turned the volume down and put on some old song he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of. Humming the upbeat tune, he tapped his feet on the sidewalk in time, ignoring the icy cold pouring in through his T-Shirt.  
A few songs passed, a few songs were skipped, and a few songs were taken out of the collaborative playlist rather quickly.  
"All Star, Michael, really?" He could almost head Michael's clear, giddy laugh. His face heated up, and he cringed. At least it warmed him up a little bit.  
A few more songs passed. One rhythmic song, some old Caravan Palace song Michael had found, came on, and Jeremy found himself swinging his wiry and arms an nonexistent hips to the beat. He probably looked like the whitest person in a 50 mile radius, but he was just too tired to care. Humming as he did some sort of giddy jig down the pavement, he did his best to hold his heavy eyelids up. Whatever god there was, give him the strength to not fall asleep at Michael's house. The song faded into the ending, and Jeremy let his now even more tired arms swing to a stop. Ok, maybe not the best idea.  
The next song had barely began when Jeremy found himself in sight of Michael's house. It was a decent size, bigger than his own at least. Michael's parents weren't home that much. Michael didn't seem to care. It at least made things less awkward when Jeremy came around at 3 am.  
He hiked up the stairs to the porch and pulled his headphones out of his ears, rapping on the door.  
There was a quiet pattering, and the door swung open with a scratchy groan. Behind it was Michael, still in pikachu pajamas with headphones dropped down to around his neck.  
"Hey Jeremy!" He said with a wide grin, which faded really fast.  
"Woah, Jesus Christ, dude. Are you ok?"  
Jeremy stared curiously.  
"Uh, I guess, why?"  
"I- I know I said this Friday, but you look... dead. When was the last time you slept?"  
"Last night," Jeremy lied instinctively. Michael frowned, before his eyes widened yet again.  
"Wait, aren't you freezing? It's like 40."  
Jeremy shrugged. "'ts not that bad." Michael narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on Jeremy's bare forearm, before pulling away dramatically.  
"Dude, you're like ice! Come on." He all but dragged Jeremy through the doorway, closing the door and pulling his skinny friend down to the basement.  
The place was just like he remembered it. Somewhat unfinished place, rough carpet, bigass tv, and the beanbags.  
On one of the beanbags beanbag was a hoodie in a matching shade with a polar bear in it, Michael's favorite and borderline trademark. He picked it up and tossed it to Jeremy, who caught it and blinked at him blankly.  
"Put it on. You're not getting hypothermia on my watch."  
Jeremy ignored the blush creeping up his neck. "Michael, it's 40 out. I'm not even that cold." This resulted in a huff from Michael.  
"Your skin feels like I pulled you out of a frozen pond. Put on the hoodie and stop griping." Jeremy quickly realized that he wasn't going to win and stuck out his tongue, pulling the hoodie over his head. It was puffy and warm. And smelled like Michael.  
God, get it together, Jeremy.  
Michael, oblivious, reached behind the other beanbag and pulled out- sure enough- a box of Lucky Charms. He plopped down into the beanbag- Jeremy recognized it as Michael's specific one-, and dropped the box haphazardly at Jeremy's feet.  
"Pour yourself a bowl if you want some. You know where the stuff is, right?" Jeremy stared for a moment, before blurting , "Uh- are you sure, though? Like it's fine if you don't want me to-" Michael groaned and flopped over backwards on the beanbag so that he could see Jeremy.  
"Would I have given you the damn box if I didn't want you to have any?" Jeremy rolled his eyes and leaned down to grab the box, messing up Michael's hair in the process with his free hand. A fond "Screw you!" followed, with Michael reaching up as far as he could from the floor to swat at Jeremy's nose. He was a few inches short, and Jeremy stuck out his tongue and trotted upstairs.  
Even after everything that had happened, Michael didn't blame him. Michael had forgiven him. Why?  
He pulled the gallon of milk out of the fridge and grabbed a plastic bowl, pouring the cereal in before adding milk. He grabbed a spoon as he put the milk back and tucked the cereal box under his arm. Halfway down the stairs he realized he was still wearing Michael's hoodie, and put his bowl into one hand so that he could put up the hood and carefully pull the drawstrings as tight as they would go. As he entered the room, Michael glanced up.  
"Hey, did you find the-" He stopped for a second, before snorting and squeezing his eyes shut. "Jeremy, oh my god-"  
"You made me wear it." Jeremy shrugged, putting the hood back down and settling into his beanbag. He forgot how nice it was to be here. It was like home. He found himself lost in thought as he crunched on the sugary cereal, quietly humming. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Michael staring at him with a weird expression. He glanced over, perking one eyebrow. Michael straightened up and looked away, laughing nervously. Weird.  
"What's up?" Jeremy asked.  
"Nothing, just- um..." He paused for a second. "Wondering why you look so tired if you're sleeping."  
Jeremy shrugged.  
"Me too." It hurt, somewhere deep down, to keep the nightmares bottled up, but he didn't want Michael to worry. He didn't even want to think about it himself.  
Michael narrowed his eyes before rolling over so that he was facing Jeremy, half sunken into the old beanbag.  
"Ok, but hurry up with your cereal so we can get going." Jeremy's eyes darted down.  
"Yeah, sorry." He mumbled, shoving in another mouthful. Michael scooted his beanbag a little closer and fixed Jeremy with a look.  
"Dude, you don't have to apologize." Jeremy bit his lip, wincing at how dry it was. Michael's eyes flicked down to his chapped bottom lip for a split second.  
"Dang, you need some chapstick or something?" He asked. Jeremy shook his head, swallowing the last sweet bite of Lucky Charms and setting the bowl down where he wouldn't accidentally kick it over.  
"I'm fine. Thanks, though." Michael elbowed him, and Jeremy noticed the inches that had disappeared between the beanbags. He certainly didn't mind. Just coincidence, he told himself before a certain part of his brain started running.  
He barely realized a controller was being shoved into his hands until he caught Michael's eye.  
"Oh- ah," he managed to stutter, grabbing it quickly. Michael let out a soft chuckle and slid back, eyes crinkling a little bit at the corners.  
Don't stare, Jeremy.  
The screen booted up to a yellow-green sky against a crumbling city, with drippy text displayed that read 'Apocalypse of the Damned'. Jeremy quickly skipped over the 'New Game' option and selected File 1.  
Level 12, the Football Stadium. Jeremy shot Michael a nervous grin and sat up a little higher.  
It started with the two under the seating in a rather destroyed place that might have once been a good court.  
"30 seconds until Wave 1." A vaguely computerized female voice said. Jeremy shivered slightly. Michael's eyes flicked over him.  
Jeremy grabbed a rifle lying on the counter and collected some scattered ammo into his inventory. Michael elected for a crowbar propped up against a vending machine and a pistol under a moldy cash register.  
"15 seconds under Wave 1." Jeremy inched his character to the corner, where Michael joined him. No zombies could pop up behind them like that. Jeremy loaded and cocked his gun, clicking buttons in an almost rhythmic pattern. Michael held his crowbar in both hands, thumb poised over the X button.  
"Wave 1 begins in 5.....4.....3....2....1...." A siren blared, and low poly zombies started digging up from the ground.  
"The invasion had begun."  
"Thanks, Cortana." Michael muttered. Jeremy snickered.  
The first zombies reached them, and Jeremy left Michael to deal with them in favor of weakening the stronger ones in the back.  
He'd forgotten the exhilaration of having a brother to have his back.  
With a cocky grin, Jeremy reloaded his gun and took out the back Wave. Meanwhile, the close Zombies were exploding into pixel blood at the crack of Michael's crowbar.  
Wave 4/10. Michael's character lost some health, and Jeremy's lunged in front of him and shot the attacked without hesitation. "Thanks," Michael grinned, stepping into where Jeremy had been and deselecting the crowbar.  
Dead zombies collected in a growing pile, fading a few seconds after their gruesome death. More soon followed.  
Wave 7/10. Zombie cheerleaders.  
"Still nicer than the ones at our school." Jeremy quietly added. He felt Michael lean into his side for a second and knock heads with him, snickering. Jeremy checked his health. 35/50. Ok, he was doing ok.  
"What's your health at?" He said, not looking away from the screen.  
"20," responded Michael. "You?"  
"35," Jeremy answered. Michael raised his eyebrows. "Not terrible."  
Jeremy shrugged.  
Wave 9, a horrible mix of zombie spectators, cheerleaders, and a coach, was dwindling down. A clever cheerleader managed to breach their defenses and land some damage, 10 on Jeremy and 5 on Michael.  
"Gah," growled Michael as his character was pushed back by knockback. He quickly recovered, and wave 9 ended with a click.  
"Final Wave."  
It was a zombie football team, all huge and decked out in football gear.  
"Jesus," muttered Michael. Jeremy began rapid firing at the slowly approaching goliaths, while Michael had equipped his Pistol and was attempting the same. Four fell, leaving six still drawing dangerously close. Jeremy nailed one in the head though the helmet, killing it instantly.  
"Nice shot!" Michael quipped, readily equipping his crowbar as Jeremy's character scooted behind him, gun raised over the other's head. The football players were upon them, with Michael slashing furiously and Jeremy mashing buttons like there was no tomorrow. Four left. Three left. One of the zombies hit Michael, the knockback clipping him backwards through Jeremy and putting him on the front line. Jeremy yelped as his gun clicked fruitlessly, and he jammed a button and winged the empty rifle at the low health zombie. It collapsed, knocking the other two back for long enough for Michael to scoot back up.  
"What are you at?" Jeremy questioned.  
"5," Michael huffed. Jeremy checked his own.  
"Same here." The two zombies were approaching. Michael dropped the loaded pistol, which Jeremy quickly equipped and began firing away. One more hit and they'd be dead. The football player in front took hits left and right until it collapsed, leaving the last lumbering dangerously close. Jeremy shot it through the head, but it wasn't enough to one-shot it. Even their combined effort wasn't slowing it down. The zombie raised a huge rotten fist, and Jeremy pushed into Michael's character, successfully forcing the other to switch places with him and taking the blow. His character collapsed into the ground, dead, and his screen took on a faint red color.  
Michael stared at him for a second, before mashing the buttons with more vigor. Just went all looked dark, Michael pulled off a rare combo and the creature collapsed.  
There was silence.  
Then, the feminine voice was back.  
"Mission successful." The boys whooped and high fived, Jeremy letting out a tired sigh and settling further into the beanbag.  
"Ok, soda break. You want anything?" Michael asked, standing up and stretching. Jeremy paused.  
"...Red Mountain Dew?" He answered quietly. Michael gave him a worried glance.  
"Is- is it-"  
"No, no. It's not back. Just..." He gave Michael a pleading look. The other quickly gave in, sighing and trotting upstairs. Now in silence except for the victory music of the game, Jeremy sank further into the beanbag. His eyes dropped and he yawned. Maybe just for a s e c on d.

He sat up. Nah, Michael would be back soon, and he didn't want to pass out in the meantime. He stood up, setting his controller on the ground, and stepped into the orange light coming from the stairwell.  
Orange light?  
Oh no.  
"Nononono not again, not now." He said, stumbling backwards. The door at the top of the stairs cracked open, and flames came tumbling down, filling the room and choking out all of the air. Jeremy couldn't breathe, could feel the heat on his skin. Was this a nightmare or not? Amidst the scorching tongues of fire, a figure emerged; charcoal black with glowing blue eyes.  
"Jeremy?" Michael asked, his voice rough and chipped and far away.  
"No! Stay away! Please!" Jeremy begged, backing up as far as he could without get boiled if he wasn't already. Sweat ran down him in rivers, mixing with free falling tears.  
"Jeremy!" The burnt Michael repeated, pulling himself closer.  
"This is a dream. This is just a bad dream." He repeated, scooting back up further into the flames.  
"Jeremy, please!"  
Jeremy sank to his knees as charcoal Michael grew closer, not even a foot away.  
"I'm sorry," he whispered. He glanced up. Behind Michael, at the top of the stairs, there he was, the boy with the squip eyes. Burn Michael grabbed his face, and Jeremy screamed.  
But it wasn't Burn Michael. It was the real Michael, looking absolutely terrified.  
"J-Jeremy!" He stammered, crouched in front of him. Jeremy's eyes widened, and he scooted away.  
"Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit," He repeated, rubbing his tear-stained face with his hand. He heard a noise, and found Michael right in front of him.  
"Jeremy. Can you hear me?" He asked.  
Jeremy looked away, but nodded. Michael let out a breath. Jeremy let his breathing come more like wheezing as he tried to avoid letting Michael see his pitiful face.  
"Jeremy."  
"I'm sorry!" He blurted, covering his face. He heard Michael stand up and move out of sight. Maybe he'd realized what a failure Jeremy was. Suddenly, arms were wrapping around him from behind, and he found himself curled up in Michael's arms.  
Michael's voice wavered slightly but remained pretty steady.  
"Alright. Alright. Listen. You're going to breathe, and then you're going to tell me what just happened." Jeremy only stiffened further, trying not to shake.  
"Jeremy." Michael's breath was warm on his neck. Not scorching like the fire, but warm and calming. He managed to slow down his breathing enough, but the shaking continued.  
"Jeremy. Relax. It's ok. You're here," Michael repeated, tightening his arms just a touch. Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut, but let his shoulders sag. He found himself curled into Michael, head tilted back to rest on the other's shoulder. He could hear Michael's worried heartbeat, thudding loudly against his back. He shuddered and brought his knees up to his chest. Michael sighed quietly.  
"What do you need?" Michael asked.  
Jeremy didn't open his eyes.  
"'Mfine."  
"Jeremy." He felt Michael's head lean against his.  
"Please."  
And so Jeremy told him. He told him about the long nights, the guilt, the nightmares. He told him about the scorched people, the fire that felt too real, and the boy with the squip eyes. He told him everything that had bottled up until there was nothing left.  
He once again found himself curled up around his knees, shaking. It was Michael that carefully pulled him back.  
Jeremy went limp, and felt Michael flinch as he did.  
A moment of silence passed.  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Jeremy could feel the soft hum of his voice.  
"'tsnot a big deal," He said through gritted teeth. Michael barked out a quiet laugh, startling him.  
"Obviously that's not the case," He said firmly. "Is that why you haven't slept?"  
Jeremy nodded.  
"How many times?"  
He went still for a moment, before creaking out, "Three."  
Michael huffed and Jeremy sunk lower, eyes flickering around.  
"I'm sorry," He mumbled. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. You shouldn't have to deal with this-"  
"Jeremiah Heere." Jeremy stiffened.  
"I want to help you. You're not bad for telling me. I just wish you'd have mentioned it sooner."  
"What difference would it make?" Jeremy muttered, eyes dark. Michael deserved better. He was a mess now. What a wreck. He was so ugly, so terrible. He was-  
"Jeremyyy," Michael whined, resting his chin on Jeremy's fluffy hair now that the latter was low enough.  
"You have to tell people when you're hurting. That's how you get help."  
Jeremy made a quiet noise.  
"Next time this happens, you tell me, ok?"  
"You probably won't even be awake-"  
"Tell. Me." Michael pulled back and spun him around so he was facing him. Now, Jeremy could clearly see how concerned and scared he was.  
"Please."  
He nodded, and Michael sighed with a tired smile.  
"Alright. You still want that Mountain Dew Red?" He asked, standing up and offering Jeremy a hand. After a moment of hesitation, he took it and let Michael pull him up.  
"Y-yeah..." He laughed lightly. Michael crossed to the beanbag where a Red Mountain Dew and a Doctor Pepper had been dropped. Jeremy pulled off Michael's hoodie and dropped it on one of the chairs next to the table in the back. Michael trotted back, handing him the drink. He pulled the cap open and took a long swig with no hesitation. Michael did the same, sighing.  
"You ready for Level 13?"  
"Uh, gimme a minute first." Michael nodded and flopped into his beanbag, almost spilling fizzy pop everywhere.  
"Take alll the time you need," He said, slurping. Jeremy sat down in the beanbag, staring at the ceiling. All of a sudden, he perked up.  
"Uh-h, thanks. I didn't... say that yet. Sorry," he blurted.  
Michael glanced up, before a warm smile crossed his face.  
"You're welcome," He said, reaching out and squeezing Jeremy's hand, which was curled on the floor. Jeremy smiled, not letting himself think about what had just occurred in a futile attempt to keep himself from glowing red.  
Even if his life was a mess right now, he still had Michael.


	5. Crushes, Treehouses, and Crushes in Treehouses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rich makes a discovery and consequently Jeremy does too. Also the boys are dorks and rich is a memelord and I love him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is entirely filler fluff. I'm sorry. I just needed to fill something in until I could get Jeremy home, so for now enjoy this plotless fluff.
> 
> BUT
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER WE GET ACTUAL PLOT AND THE SQUIP  
> BOUT TIME, AYE?

Michael pulled his hand back and glanced at Jeremy, before pulling out his phone and yawning.  
"Tell me when you're ready, 'Kay?" He said. Jeremy pulled out his own phone.  
11:13  
8 New Messages  
8? Wow. He opened up the first.  
9:32 [???] Hey dude  
9:32 [???] it's Jake  
9:32 [???] is this Jeremy?  
[??? saved as Jake]  
11:14 [Jeremy] yeah. Sup  
\--  
8:43 [???] Hi Jeremy!!!!!  
8:44 [???] I got your number from Jake!  
[??? saved as Christine]  
11:15 [Jeremy] hi Christine!

\--  
10:09 [Rich] hey dude heard you talked to Jake  
10:09 [Rich] he's a pretty cool dude right  
10:10 [Rich] he thinks you guys are cool, which is a huge compliment, gj man  
11:15 [Jeremy] yeah he's amazing, considering all things  
[Rich is typing...]  
11:16 [Rich] what's that supposed to mean  
11:16 [Jeremy] well, you know my history with popular kids....  
11:17 [Rich] true  
11:17 [Rich] but like just so we're clear we may be bros but if u insult Jake Dillinger I will punt you into orbit  
11:17 [Jeremy] wasn't planning on it, but I would like to see you try  
11:18 [Rich] is that a challenge  
11:18 [Jeremy] maybe  
11:18 [Rich] I can't believe Jeremy Heere wants me to punt him into space  
11:18 [Rich] did you Heere? Jeremy wants to go to space!  
11:19 [Jeremy] ...  
11:19 [Jeremy] I didn't think even you would stoop this low  
11:19 [Rich] I'm 5'5 I can't get much lower  
11:20 [Jeremy] you've finally accepted it  
11:20 [Jeremy] don't you have to be Rich to go to space? Like nasas such a mess you'd probably have to fund the rocket yourself  
11:21 [Rich] who said anything about a rocket you're the rocket and I'm the engine  
11:21 [Rich] wait  
11:21 [Jeremy] HA  
11:22 [Rich] IVE BEEN BETRAYED  
11:23 [Jeremy] SWEET REVENGE  
11:23 [Rich] Jake wouldn't treat me like this >:(  
11:24 [Jeremy] you sure talk about Jake a lot  
11:25 [Rich] you sure talk about Michael a lot  
Jeremy yelped.  
"What's up?" Michael asked, glancing at him.  
"N-nothing, just Rich," Jeremy responded quickly. Michael shrugged.

11:27 [Jeremy] WHO TOLD Y OU  
11:28 [Rich] WAIT I WAS RIGHT  
11:28 [Jeremy] sh it  
11:28 [Rich] CALLED IT CALLED IT CALLED IT  
11:29 [Jeremy] stop oh my god he's gonna see  
11:29 [Rich] You're at his house?  
11:29 [Jeremy] yeah  
11:30 [Rich] good luck man ;)  
[Rich is offline]  
11:30 [Jeremy] R I C H  
11:30 [Jeremy] MFNFKDJDNDJFJFJFJD  
11:31 [Jeremy] wait  
11:31 [Jeremy] you mentioned that after I said Jake...  
11:31 [Jeremy] WA IT RICH  
[Rich is online]  
[Rich is typing...]  
11:32 [Rich] DONT SAY IT  
11:32 [Jeremy] DO YOU  
11:32 [Rich] SHUT UP  
11:32 [Jeremy] OH MY GOD YOU DO  
11:33 [Rich] STOOOOOOP  
11:34 [Rich] if you tell him I swear to god they will never find your body  
11:35 [Jeremy] nah I'm not gonna  
11:35 [Jeremy] that's your call  
11:35 [Rich] thanks man  
11:36 [Rich] but you and Michael huh  
11:37 [Rich] shouldn't be too hard I guess  
11:38 [Jeremy] fjhdrjidkskd sto p  
11:38 [Rich] ;)  
11:38 [Jeremy] RICH NO  
11:38 [Rich] RICH YES  
11:39 [Jeremy] THIS IS CYBERBULLYING  
11:39 [Rich] MWUAHAHAHAHA  
11:39 [Rich] wait oh my god  
11:39 [Rich] ok this isn't relevant but 11:40 [Rich] is the squip a cyber bully  
11:40 [Jeremy] oh my god....  
11:41 [Rich] the squip in the cyberbullying talks in 6th grade  
11:41 [Jeremy] Hehdizfkejnddk  
11:43 [Rich] henlo Jeremy.... u stinky Jeremy  
11:43 [Rich] go drink mtn dew ugly  
[Jeremy saved this conversation]  
11:43 [Jeremy] Rich oh my god I'm gonna scream  
11:44 [Rich] well yeah you're at Michael's still right  
11:44 [Jeremy] S T O P  
11:44 [Jeremy] IM GONNA BLOCK YOU  
11:45 [Rich] u won't  
11:45 [Rich] bc u love me <3  
11:46 [Rich] but not as much as Michael  
11:46 [Jeremy] YEP BYE  
11:46 [Rich] tell me if he's good

Jeremy shoved his phone into his pocket and muffled a scream into the beanbag. Michael glanced up again, eyebrows raised.  
"...still Rich?"  
"Yep." The reply was also muffled. Jeremy pulled his face out of the beanbag.  
"What are you doing?"  
Michael turned his screen.  
"...Terraria mobile? You have the PC version," Jeremy pointed out.  
"Portable, and just as good."  
"Fair enough." Jeremy scooted over so he could watch.  
"Where are you?"  
"Hm?"  
"Hardmode?"  
"Oh, yeah. I got this like a week and a half ago, so I'm not super far. I've only beaten the Destroyer." Jeremy snorted.  
"Michael, most people don't get to that point for months." Michael rolled his eyes, letting his tongue stick out of his toothy grin.  
"Their game is weak." Jeremy rolled his eyes and yawned, before cringing.  
"Goddammit," he mumbled.  
"What now?" Michael asked, pausing his game to look at Jeremy.  
"Nothing, just tired as all hell, since whenever I close my damn eyes for 30 seconds everyone I know dies," Jeremy hissed, flopping onto his back. Michael fixed him with a concerned look.  
"Seriously, dude, I think you should see a psychiatrist or something."  
"Oh, yes, Mrs. Psychiatrist? I killed the computer in my brain that was in the form of a pill and tried to take over the human race with Mountain Dew and now it's giving me nightmares." Michael was obviously trying not to laugh.  
"Well, I mean, when you say it like that..."  
"That's literally what it is, Michael!" Jeremy waved his arms in the air. It really did sound ridiculous, didn't it?  
"What if it's all the plot of some game?" Michael whispered.  
"Oh god, don't give me an existential crisis right now-"  
"No! Like maybe the squip eyed boy from your dreams is real and he's coming to steal our red Mountain Dew !" Michael leaned over Jeremy, wiggling his fingers spookily. Jeremy tried to hold in his giggling, but ended up laughing hysterically. Michael joined him, and the two didn't stop until they were out of breath.  
"Quick! Hide all the Mountain Dew!" Jeremy called.  
"To the bunker!" Michael added. They stared at each other for a moment before snickering.  
"God, I missed this," Michael said softly after a moment.  
"God, I missed you," Jeremy replied without thinking. An alarm bell went off in his brain, and covering his blush with his hands, he glanced at Michael's surprised expression.  
"Like- uh," He stammered, looking for a way to cover up his slip up.  
"You can't laugh like this around the popular kids. I'm not sure they even know how?" Michael's curious look almost changed to disappointed for a split second, before he laughed again.  
"What about Jake?"  
"Jake is a King. He doesn't have to follow their rules."  
"True." Jeremy closed his eyes, grinning and hoping he'd patched everything up. Then, he felt a tap on his nose. Michael was leaning over him, dangerously close for Jeremy's sanity.  
"Oh my god, I almost forgot!" He grinned brightly, before bouncing back and pulling a surprised Jeremy with him.  
"You're gonna need a coat," Michael said, and pointed at the hoodie on the table.  
"Just use that one. I'll find one."  
"Wait, are we going outside?" Jeremy asked.  
"Yep!"  
"...why?" Michael's sly grin was huge.  
"You'll see."  
"Oh god, that means it's not gonna end well."  
"Oh, come on! Don't you trust me, Jeremy?" Michael appeared from around the corner, having donned a grey and white jacket. Jeremy rolled his eyes and crossed the room to pull on the red hoodie, turning around to see Michael looking like an excited puppy.  
"Let's go!" He practically yelled, and dragged Jeremy up the stairs by his hood.  
"Michael! I can walk!" He said, remembering earlier.  
"Shh!" Michael grinned. He sprinted through the house and stopped st the back door.  
"Ok," He stared at Jeremy. "Do you trust me?"  
Jeremy narrowed his eyes.  
"Is this some sort of prank-"  
"No! I swear! You just gotta trust me, ok?" Jeremy hesitated, then sighed.  
"Well of course I trust you. What do you-"  
Michael opened the door, before darting behind him. Dark skinned hands suddenly covered Jeremy's eyes, and he grabbed their wrists.  
"Michael?! What are you-"  
"Walk forwards."  
"If I fall I'm bringing you down with me."  
"Walk forwards, dude." Jeremy dude, and Michael kept pace, stopping only to close the door.  
"Keep going.... And.... Stop!" Jeremy sighed. Michael's hands still didn't leave his eyes.  
"Ok! Ready?"  
"Terrified." Michael headbutted him from behind.  
"Ready... and... look!" He pulled his hands away. For a second, there was nothing. Just the woods that bordered Michael's yard.  
"Wh-"  
Then he saw the treehouse.  
Set in the tree right in front of him was a shack, firmly planted where the branches began to splice off of he trunk. It had a roof, and a balcony, and a rope ladder, and everything 10 year old Jeremy would have died for.  
He turned to Michael, who reminded him of the same Jeremy.  
"Dude, this is awesome! How'd you get this?" Michael grinned.  
"You know my parents. Just went 'hey mom, can I have a tree house? I'll go outside more' and she just went 'sure, whatever.' And boom! Treehouse!" He pointed jazz hands at the tree, before shooting forward.  
"Come on!" Jeremy ran after him, trailing him up the wobbling rope ladder and into the tree. There was a rug, another beanbag that looked like it was triple the size of the ones in the basement, and a bookshelf inside the covered room, and then a balcony. Michael quite literally dove into the beanbag, spinning around the face Jeremy.  
"Well?"  
"It's amazing..." Jeremy answered, eyes wide. Michael grinned and flopped onto one side of the beanbag, patting the other side.  
"C'mere, look at this thing." Jeremy walked over, standing over Michael with his eyebrows raised.  
"That's a bigass bean bag. Where'd you even find it?" Michael shrugged.  
"Ok but that's not what I meant- you know what? Here." In one swift moment, Michael reached up, tangled his hand in the fabric of Jeremy's hoodie, and yanked the taller boy down onto the beanbag. With a yelp, Jeremy found himself sprawled out on the beanbag, side to side with Michael.  
Jeremy made a noise and tried to scramble away, but Michael stopped him.  
"Dude, relax! Just trust me," He said. Jeremy huffed and let himself go slack.  
His face burned.  
"Michael, really-"  
"Shh!" Michael hissed.  
"Listen."  
Jeremy glanced up, listening silently. For a moment, he couldn't hear anything. Then, he begin to recognize the birds calling, the ripple of the crisp wind through the trees, the green light filtering through the treetops. For a second, he forgot all about Michael, and the Squip, and everything. For a second, it was just him, and the cacophony of noise that was somehow in itself so calming and just.... real.  
Through the window, he could see spiderwebs of brown branches decorated with glowing leaves of every shade imaginable, swaying gently in the bright spring sun. He saw a bird land on a looser branch, hopping around indignantly as it preened itself and chirped noisily. It paused a second and cocked it's head, before flicking open its wings and disappearing into the soft blue sky. Jeremy barely even realized he'd been lost in though until he glanced over.  
"See?" Jeremy nodded, quietly enraptured in the sound. Michael softly draped an arm around Jeremy's shoulders, and Jeremy figured that the best option would be to ignore it. He felt like him and Michael had always been touchy. Whatever Michael was doing, it didn't mean anything.  
"I've wanted to show you this for weeks," Michael laughed quietly.  
"When... when did you get it?"  
"I dunno, a month ago? It kind of became my safe place after..." his expression turned sour.  
"I'm sorry," Jeremy said immediately.  
"I'm so sorry. I ruined everything, didn't I? All because I wanted to be cool." He laughed dryly and let one arm fall over his face, inconspicuously hiding the water welling up in his eyes.  
"No. No, no- Goddammit. Jeremy."  
"Mm?"  
"Did you ever really want to abandon me?"  
"N-no, but-"  
"Then why did you?"  
"The squip-"  
"Exactly, dude. The squip. Stop beating yourself up because you got abused by a goddamn manipulative windows xp ripoff."  
Jeremy couldn't help but laugh, pulling his hand away and managing to blink back the tears.  
"I don't deserve you," he said quietly after he was done laughing. He flinched squeezed his eyes shut as a hand raked through his hair, ruffling it affectionately.  
"Shut up, dude. Forget about the squip," Michael murmured, letting go of Jeremy's now fluffy, curly mop of hair. Jeremy sighed, leaving his eyes closed.  
"I-I'm sorry, it's just... it's so hard. Not having it and all. I'm so- so lost, sometimes. It always told me what to do, how to not screw up." He cringed.  
"Of course, that didn't stop my dumb ugly ass from managing to-"  
"The hell did you just call yourself?" Michael spat at him.  
"A dumb ugly-" Jeremy tried to say but Michael stopped him halfway through.  
"No. Uh-uh. I'm gonna stop that right there." He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut, before reaching over and grabbing Jeremy's surprised face.  
"Listen. I don't know what the hell that... that thing told you. But none of it is true. None. Of. It." He let go.  
"That doesn't mean I'm not hurt by what happened. In fact, for months I was pissed. Unholy pissed and upset and alone-"  
"Then why the hell did you forgive me-"  
"Let me speak, Jeremiah," Michael growled. Jeremy shrank, and Michael's expression turned to pity.  
"Some things are your fault, Jeremy. And I'm sorry I can't sugarcoat that. But a pretty damn large part of it was that pill." Jeremy nodded dully, eyes blank.  
"But I do know how to avenge myself," Michael said with a smirk, pulling out his phone. Jeremy snapped out of his thoughts long enough to see Michael open-  
"No!" Jeremy shrieked, lunging at Michael and tackling him clean off of the beanbag and grabbing at his phone. Michael held him away with one arm and tapped the play button. Some childish chanting starting playing from the speakers. Jeremy froze.  
"Wait, is this the-"  
"Kidz bop version." Michael grinned. Jeremy shrieked and chased after Michael who had scrambled to his feet, blasting the kidz bop version of thrift shop. The room was small, and it wasn't hard for Jeremy to catch Michael, wrapping his lanky arms around him and grabbing at the phone. Michael curled in on himself, laughing loudly. Jeremy yelled and pounded on Michael'a back lightly, before falling on the floor with a wounded cry and covering his ears. Michael crouched over him, pressing the phone up to his ear, and Jeremy shrieked. After a few minutes of this, the song ended, and Michael stuck his phone in his pocket.  
"Revenge is best served cold," He grinned, pulling Jeremy up from the floor by his own red hoodie. Jeremy only managed to land a few soft punches against his chest, mumbling, "I hate you."  
"Aww, thanks," Michael crooned, standing on his toes to touch foreheads with the taller boy before trotting off to the balcony. Jeremy's brain managed to short circuit for a few seconds, but he hastily cleared it and hurried to join Michael at the balcony.

Jeremy lost track of how long they stayed there, talking about life and music and other stupid things with their legs dangling off of the balcony. He remembered Michael seeing the electricity scars faintly peeking out from under the red hoodie and unwittingly jokingly questioning him, and how he convenient saw a squirrel that that moment. He also remembered Michael singing softly and having to restrain himself from doing anything stupid. But all good things have to end.  
"Can't you stay the night?" Michael whined, leaning on his shoulder and batting his eyelids jokingly. Jeremy snorted and rolled his eyes, hoping the pink glow of the setting sun would hide his blush.  
"Dad's going out of town tomorrow, and he wants to make sure I'm set up." Michael huffed and stuck his tongue out.  
"Fine, but I get to drive you home."  
"Sure thing, magic mike."  
"Just kidding, you're walking."  
"Nooooooo...."  
They end up in Michael's car, mumbling gibberish with Jeremy's long legs propped up on the dash. The ride to his house is painfully short, but Jeremy makes the most of it. When the car finally crunches up to the door, Jeremy's red faced from laughing.  
"Alright, Mikey Boy. See you soon," Jeremy grins, sliding out of the car. He sees Michael glance at his chest and open his mouth to say something, but then close it with a cheeky grin.  
"Bye, Jerebear!" He says, as Jeremy closes the door and the car rolls away. Jeremy grins, trotting into the house. No sense in being quiet this time.  
"I'm home!" He yells, trudging into the living room where his dad is busy stuffing the last few required objects into his suitcase.  
"Oh, hello, Jeremy," Mr. Heere says, glancing up. He pauses, and squints at Jeremy as if he wants to say something, but clearly decides against it. Weird.  
"Where are you off to this time?" Mr. Heere mumbles something about business in New York. He then launched into the usual mantra of where the food is, to call him if anything happens, yadda ya. Jeremy nods and makes mhm noises long enough for his dad to haul his stuff to the door.  
"Ok, my uber is here. Are you sure you're alright, son?" Jeremy nods.  
"Have a good trip, dad."  
"Bye, Jeremy." And then he's gone.  
Jeremy huffs, electing to sprawl out on the now vacant couch. He pulls his phone out of his hoodie pocket, opening it up.

5 new messages

5:09 [Rich] yo I got out of the hospital  
5:10 [Rich] also I got a sick jacket wanna see  
5:10 [Rich] here let's do that thing Christine does with the selfie swap  
5:11 [Received photo from Rich]  
It's a varsity jacket, red and white with the school name emblazoned on it in big white letters. Jeremy's not sure why anyone would want to be associated with that hellscape, but he doesn't say anything.  
5:49 [Rich] respond Jeremiah  
Jeremy rolls his eyes  
6:17 [Jeremy] looks great!  
He snaps a quick selfie on the couch, making sure to look as disgruntled as possible.  
6:17 [Jeremy sent a photo]  
[Rich is typing...]  
6:18 [Rich] FNHDDNDIFNDIXISKFBF  
What the heck?  
6:18 [Jeremy] ?  
6:18 [Rich] HAHAHAHAHAHA HOLY SHIT  
6:18 [Jeremy] dude what  
6:19 [Rich] NICE HOODIE YO  
Nice.... hoodie? That doesn't seem the cause for such a reaction. He glances down. Nope, just a red-  
Hoodie. Michael's. Hoodie.  
He forgot to take it off.  
That explains his dad's weird look.  
6:21 [Jeremy] JFHSJFNRJDJDNF OH GOD  
6:22 [Jeremy] I FORGOT I HAD IT ON  
6:22 [Rich] well how was he  
6:22 [Jeremy] WE DI DNT  
6:22 [Jeremy] STOP DAMMIT  
6:23 [Rich] you just randomly have his hoodie  
6:23 [Rich] sure bro  
6:23 [Jeremy] god I hate you  
6:24 [Rich] gtg have fun with ur hoodie  
6:24 [Jeremy] djdjdnfififk  
[Rich is offline]

God. Why.

6:25 [Jeremy] crap dude I have ur hoodie  
6:25 [Jeremy] sorry I totally didn't realize  
[Michael is typing...]  
6:27 [Michael] its fine haha  
6:27 [Michael] I noticed but you looked so content in it so I just whatever man  
Jeremy buried his face in a pillow and screamed for about 15 seconds before responding.  
6:28 [Jeremy] thanks I guess  
6:28 [Jeremy] its soft  
10/10 conversating, Jeremy.  
6:29 [Michael] I know dude  
6:29 [Michael] anyways yeah you can wear it whenever you want just don't ruin it  
6:30 [Jeremy] thanks dude  
6:30 [Michael] yw

Jeremy rolled his eyes and turned his phone off and headed up to the kitchen to salvage some leftover pizza.  
Tonight looked like it would be a pretty chill night, he thought to himself, plopping into the couch with a plate of cold pizza.  
Maybe he might even get some sleep.


	6. The Burning House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things heat up. Literally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare chapter. This is shorter than I'd hoped :/
> 
> Alternate Title: The Squip Enters
> 
> Sorry for the wait!

Jeremy had gone to bed around 11, having managed to binge some of the worst sonic cartoons ever made at Michael's request on Netflix.  
He'd been sitting on the couch in an awkward position, one leg propped up on the arm of the couch and the other on the floor with his head turned sideways, texting Michael the whole time. When he finally forced himself to get up, all he could feel was pins and needles and he almost fell over.  
Once upstairs, Jeremy plugged in his phone and went through his nightly routine; showering, drying off, getting into pajamas, etc.  
He jumped into bed with an 'umph', curling into the blankets. When he was comfortable, he closed his eyes, before snapping them back open. Would he just have another nightmare?  
His brain flicked back to the past few nights. The screaming. The fire. The guilt.  
He sighed.  
Probably.  
Jeremy turned out the light and quickly fell asleep.  
\---  
Jeremy barely managed to force himself up. Through his bleary vision, he could faintly see a dimly lit room. Oddly enough, there was not burning heat or screaming. Jeremy almost dared to hope; had he slept through it?  
Stretching, he leaned upward and yawned, opening his eyes all of the way.  
He stared into to a room filled with orange light.  
"Are you kidding me?" Jeremy groaned to no one in particular, sliding out of bed to face the dream.  
"This again?"  
He was tempted to try and wake himself up, but he'd attempted that before. It never worked. He let out a dry chuckle; no way it could have been that easy. Not in this nightmarish hellscape.  
Jeremy stared around the room, drinking in as much as he could before he was forced into the corner by the burning zombies. It was rather cartoonish, he noticed for the first time. What was illuminated was bright orange, and what was not was black. It looked like it had been ripped out of an illustration or concept art for some video game. If it was a video game, would he play it? Jeremy pondered to himself as time ticked by and he awaited the beginning of the attack with resignation.  
He heard the voices before he saw the figures, and the guilt began to ebb in his chest. He bit his lip as he tried to tune it out. They were right, but he just couldn't bear to hear it. Not here, not now. Not again.  
He didn't know how long he stood there, burning alive, staring at the approaching figures of his charred friends.  
All he did was sit down and wait for them to come.  
It was odd, being so resigned to something so horrifying. But nothing ever changed. The dream remained the same. Every time, they'd come so close. And then the squip-eyed person would appear, and he'd wake up and have to change out of his sweat stained clothes.  
They were almost in the doorway now.  
Jeremy curled in on himself, the room feeling so far away but so close and dying at the same time. Shadows danced like frantic ballerinas against the walls, and heat shimmered in front of his eyes. Jeremy found himself wishing he had a camera. This would make quite an interesting photo to show off. Or at least he could show Michael what the dream was like.  
But even if he could, should he? Would Michael become infected and start having nightmares too? Could nightmares even be contagious? Jeremy didn't want to find out.  
A high pitched creak sounded, and he glanced up and saw two pinpricks of blue. About time. Scooting to the side, he waited for the oh so mysterious figure to come barreling into the room so the stupid dream could be over. A couple seconds ticked by. Jeremy squinted his eyes and leaned over. The eyes were closer, but not moving quickly. The figure was limping...? Jeremy felt an icy touch of fear shoot through him.  
This was new.  
The blue eyed figure was stumbling and clinging to walls, but still moving faster than its scorched comrades. With a startlingly powerful lunge, it dove through the door and slammed it behind it, heaving on the ground.  
"Aand you're here," Jeremy huffed.  
The figure remained curled up on the floor. Seconds drifted by in silence.  
"Ok...? Time to wake up now." He said, slapping himself lightly on the arm.  
Nothing happened.  
"Oh my g- You've got to be kidding me!" Jeremy yelled, flopping onto the bed with a 'fwomp'.  
"I am not stuck in this dream! This is bull-"  
"Shut up!" An unfamiliar voice hissed. Jeremy shot up like he'd been slapped, eyes focusing immediately on the body on the floor, which was now heaving in shuddery breaths.  
"Wh-what?" The figure shifted and pulled itself onto its hands and knees before shifting over to the corner of the room. Pushing its back against the wall, it hunched over and covered its face with its hands. Jeremy never caught sight of its eyes.  
"I said," it growled. "Shut. Up."  
Jeremy jumped as something slammed into the door but bounced away. It would hold for now, he hoped.  
"Who are you?" Jeremy asked, sliding off of the bed lightly.  
"What did I literally just s-"  
"No." Jeremy cut him off. "This has never happened before. I need answers. Who the hell are you, and why do I keep having this damn dream?"  
The figure shifted again, and Jeremy caught sight of a toothy grin. Holy crap, its teeth were glowing.  
"So you experience it too. Interesting." With a sudden confidence. The figure looked up. For the first time, Jeremy caught clear sight of the figure.  
It was the squip.  
But it wasn't the squip.  
He- no. They. They were a literal computer, dammit.  
They still had grey skin and dark almost black navy blue hair, slicked back into a solid shape. Or at least, it once was. Now their hair was curly and beginning to fight free of its forced shape. Part of one of the icy blue highlights that streaked through the dark curls hung in their face, and they didn't seem too pleased about it. There were still those high Keanu Reeves cheekbones and that bitter smile, but it wasn't the Keanu carbon copy he'd been used to. They were different now, with....freckles? Jeremy pulled in a sharp gasp once he realized where the new light source was coming from. The squip's eyes and teeth- which were fanged like a shark's, Jesus Christ- were glowing a radiant neon blue. Their pupils were slits. They looked.... Utterly demonic.  
"Are you done scrutinizing me?" The squip-person asked with a bitter snarl, the corners of their mouth tugging into a dark smile. Jeremy flinched and took a step back.  
"So you're the squip, huh?" He took a breath, but his mouth spoke for him.  
"Nice to see you all good and crispy." The squip hissed- literally! Like a cat! Jeremy found himself wanting to run from those teeth- and fixed him with a glare that could pierce bone. They stopped and fixed themself.  
"I could say the same about you, Jeremy, seeing as it's your mind we're both stuck burning alive in."  
"That still makes no sense, since this is just a nightmare and I'm bound to wake up soon. But," He paused.  
"It's so much easier to handle now that I know you're burning too." The squip wobbled to their feet, regaining almost half a foot over Jeremy, who tried not to instinctively shrink.  
"I followed my program, which was to assist you in achieving your goal. Despite this, you rebuked me and now laugh at our torment." The squip's eyes flared with a burning anger Jeremy didn't know computer's were capable of, but their voice stayed thin and icy.  
"Maybe that's because you attempted to conquer the entire school," Jeremy snapped.  
"It was the only way to achieve what you wanted!"  
"No it wasn't!"  
"Jeremy, I ran my calculations without error, and they firmly-"  
"I don't care what your calculations say! You don't understand humans! Numbers, code- That's not how we work!"  
"You're being ridiculous, Jeremy."  
Jeremy bit his tongue.  
"Says the talking supercomputer pill," He muttered.  
"Says the boy having an intense conversation with the talking supercomputer pill," The Squip shot back without missing a beat.  
They stood there for a second, the space between them filled with a boiling hot hatred.  
Or maybe that was just because there was a fire.  
Speaking of the fire, Jeremy turned and yelped as he saw the half crumbled door, scorched zombie hands clawing at him through the holes.  
"Well, it's not like they can actually hurt me." He shot a sideways glance at the squip, who looked unimpressed. "...Right?"  
The squip cleared their throat.  
"My sources indicate that, although infrequently, humans have been known to die of undisclosed causes during sleep."  
"What?" Jeremy's voice crack was painfully clear, but he didn't care as he spun around to face the squip.  
"You mean I might actually die?" This was met with an uncaring shrug.  
"What does that mean?! How do I stop it?"  
"I'm not sure if you can, Jeremy."  
"Please! There's gotta be some way- What if I get out of the house?"  
"Hm?"  
"The-the house is on fire!"  
"A shocking development." Jeremy ignored the remark.  
"If I leave, maybe I'll survive. Wh-what do you think?"  
"I think that such a scenario is far outside my area of expertise, Jeremy."  
"I didn't know you had an area of expertise." Jeremy said, opening the window like he had the first night. The door was growing thinner by the minute.  
"Do you plan to jump out of the window? I'm estimating that fall is about 20 feet."  
Jeremy only managed to groan as he scrambled up and out, the smoke billowing from inside blinding him for a terrifying second as he clung to the roof panels desperately. He managed to not fall and inched his way across the room, ignoring the flames curling up from under the edge of the roof. The squip stuck their head out, eyes glowing faintly through then black haze.  
"How's your escape going, Houdini?"  
"If I die, you die! Might as well try and help me!" Jeremy yelled over the roaring of the flames. The squip shrugged and slipped out of the window with ease, slithering up the roof and staring beady-eyed at Jeremy from the ridge of the house. Jeremy found himself staring at the squip, who now was entirely out of the light. Thanks to the stylization of this demented dream, all he could see was a jet black figure with two bright blue eyes against a starless sky. The wind ripped past him, and Jeremy was both freezing and burning at the same time. Holding his breath, hd inched further away from the window and looked down. He'd leaned out of the window before, and the height had been dizzying but not terrible. Now, out of range of the firelight, all he could see there was abyss. Jeremy wondered if there was anything there at all.  
If he jumped, would he be stuck falling forever, never waking up?  
He still had to give Michael his hoodie back, dammit.  
Jeremy ignored the pounding in his ears. For days it had just been a dream. But now he couldn't wake up, and he might never wake up.  
He felt sick.  
"Well? Where are you going to go?" Jeremy looked up again and caught sight of the squip gazing at him, a strange look in their eye. Jeremy opened his mouth, but was cut off by a deep rumbling. Thunder...? Jeremy felt rumbling and realized the house was shaking beneath him. The supports were giving out.  
"We need to go! Now!" Jeremy yelled frantically.  
"Go where?" The squip's voice wobbled. Were they.... scared?  
"I-I don't know!" He stood on the edge of the house now, gazing into blackness and fire. The house shook like a leaf in a storm, and Jeremy wobbled as he tried to keep a level head. The squip slid down the roof tiles with a clatter and stood next to him.  
"This is odd," He commented, eyes wide but voice still level. "I believe I am feeling the human emotion of fear. I was not programmed to be capable of doing such."  
"Don't worry, I'm terrified as hell, too," Jeremy growled, eyes flicking up and down, looking for somewhere, anywhere, to go. The house creaked and ever so slightly began to lean, a snapping sound echoing from someone near the ground.  
Jeremy made up his mind and pulled in a shaky breath.  
"Count of three."  
"What?"  
"One."  
"Jeremy, I don't think this is a good-"  
"Two." Jeremy clenched his hands up. The house let out another warning creak.  
"Jere-  
"Three!" Jeremy lunged over the side of the house, his hair flapping wildly in the wind and smoke that raced past him. He dropped like a rock, his stomach twisting into knots. Behind him, he could faintly hear the squip.  
"Jeremy!"  
He flipped in midair and caught one last glimpse of the entire house exploding into a plume of smoke and fire before everything turned pitch black.  
\---  
Jeremy sat up with so much force he quite literally went hurdling from the bed and into the wall, crumpling to the floor with a yelp.  
"What the hell...?" He mumbled, his recollection of the dream from last night hazy at best. As he sat up, the first thing he saw was his bedroom, filled with orange light.  
Jeremy scrambled to his feet, eyes wide. Not again. Please, not-  
Closer inspection revealed that, to his great relief, it wasn't the dream. The orange light was thanks to the brilliant sunrise glowing outside his window. The alarm clock read 6:34.  
Jeremy leaned his head against the wall, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. He could remember the nightmare now.  
What had happened to the squip?  
Whatever. With any luck, it had burned to a crisp in his dream and wouldn't be back to haunt him anytime soon.  
But his luck ran out a long time ago, something in his brain reminded him. Crossing the room, Jeremy closed the window, which was curiously open. As it clicked shut, he felt something prickling on the back of his neck. Weird. Jeremy yawned, gazing at the morning sky out the window.  
Maybe last night hadn't been so bad. The sunrise was nice, and he'd slept a little. Maybe nothing would go wrong today.

"Morning, sleeping beauty." A familiar voice crooned from behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, some squip action! I know, about time.
> 
> Also, some closure. I have decided to change the overarching plot of this fic.  
> This fic WILL have a squip redemption arc.  
> This fic will NOT have a human!squip.
> 
> Don't worry! I've got a plan for our favourite evil supercomputer. He won't be trapped in Jeremy's mind forever.


	7. Deal?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy makes a deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaa I'm so sorry for the wait! I'm kind of lost with this fic but I promise I'm gonna do my best to keep it rolling.
> 
> I'm still getting the hang of writing Jeremy and the squip. Sorry for any ooc moments.
> 
> There's a lot of squip in this chapter.  
> (Once again, if you find any errors tell me!)

Jeremy was 80% sure he woke up the entire block with his glass-breaking scream. He whipped around so fast he swore he heard his neck crack, but held back the urge to wince.  
In the corner of the room near the door was a figure.  
It glanced up.  
The squip.  
"Wh- Nope," Jeremy said aloud, backing up to the bed. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the squip carefully as he scrambled for the can of red Mountain Dew on his night stand.  
He'd put it there the night after he'd gotten rid of the squip. It was more of a comfort at the time; something to ground him and let him know that he was in control. Looks like he actually needed it now. It was warm and old, since it had been sitting there for a while now. But it would work. It had to.  
"How did you come back?" Jeremy asked, trying to be discreet. It wasn't working, clearly, but the squip hadn't noticed the can yet.  
"Unknown," was the dull response. Jeremy's fingers closed on the can and he snatched it, popping it open hastily.  
The squip's eyes widened.  
"W-wait! Jeremy, hold on!"  
Jeremy wanted to just chug the drink, but something inside him churned. He lowered it, attempting his best furious glare. He probably looked like a kicked puppy, but that wasn't important at the moment.  
"What?"  
The squip twitched and recoiled slightly at the sharpness of the word.  
"Consider. If you drink that, it's likely that you'll fall into the same pattern of irregular sleep and nightmares. Perhaps you could hold off...?"  
"Yeah, so you can manipulate me into hurting people? I think the hell not." Jeremy's grip on the can tightened until his knuckles were white.  
"Jeremy, think."  
"You did this to me. You're the reason I hate myself, dammit!"  
There was beat of silence.  
"Jeremy, listen to me. I tried to help you achieve what you wanted."  
"You didn't-"  
"But, according to your... repeated emphasis, apparently I was incorrect in doing so."  
"Oh my god- you tried to take over the world. I hate to break it to you, but that's not how any of this works!"  
"I'm a digitally advanced supercomputer, Jeremy. It's how I work."  
"Yeah, but you're in my brain, you parasite!"  
"I had no influence over your decision to take the pill."  
"Rich told- Rich's squip told me about it, though!"  
"Nor did I have any connection with Rich's squip before you activated me."  
"Sure. And I should believe you why, exactly? All you've done is trick me and lie to me. Why shouldn't I just down this right now?"  
Speak of deja vu.  
"I can see now that being popular is no longer your goal. I may be able to assist you in other ways that do not involve 'forcing you into things'."  
"Wha- Who taught you to do air quotes?"  
"Stay on topic, Jeremy."  
"I- I was- Gah. What am I even supposed to do with you?"  
The squip rolled their eyes and shrugged lazily. They looked like they were waiting for Jeremy to say something.  
Jeremy's head swirled.  
He could finish it right now and let the squip suffer for everything they'd put him through. But, he might end up suffering with them.  
Or.  
He could leave the squip alone and risk getting manipulated into doing something like before, or... worse.  
But the feeling in his gut still spun uncomfortably. If he just threw the squip away to suffer like some demon without even bothering to offer a second chance, was he just as bad as them?  
Jeremy slammed the drink down on the table with a crack and squeezed his eyes shut.  
"I- Ok. You can stay. For now." The squip looked genuinely surprised, and it gave Jeremy some satisfaction that they didn't think they he would actually do it. That certainly didn't help the unease building in his gut, though.  
"But," Jeremy added forcefully. "I'm going to lay down some boundaries. You overstep them?" He paused.  
"I chug that drink and we never talk again. Deal?"  
The squip stood there and stared at him for a long second. It was almost impossible to tell what they were thinking; it was like staring at a blank page looking for words.  
"Deal."  
Jeremy let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Ok. He was going to be ok.  
Was he making the right choice?  
He.... he didn't know.  
Jeremy moved to sit on the bed, rubbing one hand through his hair absentmindedly.  
"Uh- ok. Ook-ay." He bit his lip and squinted at the squip.  
"The rules."  
"Rule one. Don't- uh... Don't do the zap thing."  
"The.... zap thing?" The squip raised an eyebrow at him.  
"Y'know, where you would- uh. Shock me. When I acted wr- When I didn't listen."  
"Even if-"  
"Even. If." Jeremy said, narrowing his eyes. The squip closed their mouth.  
"Rule two. Don't just take control of me. Big no."  
"...Fair Enough."  
"Rule three. Don't just look inside my brain."  
"What does that mean?"  
"If I want you to know something I'll tell you. Otherwise, stay out of my thoughts."  
"I'm literally inside your brain."  
"Then just- I dunno, restrain yourself or something."  
"I'll do my best." Wow. Real convincing.  
"Rule four. If I tell you to stop doing something, you stop."  
"That's incredibly vague." The squip had moved to his desk chair and kicked their feet up, looking somewhat bored.  
"God- Well, like, if you're trying to get me to do something and I tell you to stop, you stop."  
"So... You just don't want my help in general."  
"Jesus Christ- Do you want me to chug this?"  
"At this rate? Somewhat."  
"Glad we agree on something."  
The tension in the air was practically visible as the two stared each other down. Jeremy's hand shook as it hovered over the can; do or don't? Do or don't?  
Biting his cheek, he pulled his hand back.  
Even if the squip backstabbed him, he'd have the satisfaction of knowing he was right all along and downing the thing like a shot.  
"Are you done?"  
Jeremy went to respond but stopped and raised his eyebrows.  
"Rule five."  
The squip groaned and covered their face with their hands. Jeremy's lips curled up into a grin as he slid off of the bed and walked past them to the door. As he turned the doorknob, he saw the squip peek through their fingers suspiciously.  
"...Rule five?"  
"Doesn't exist. I just wanted to see your face." Jeremy stepped into the hallway and ignored the annoyed protests from behind him. He went to walk down the stairs, but thought for a moment and hopped up onto the railing  
"Jeremy, that's unsafe."  
"Mhm."  
"You're doing all of this just to be petty, aren't you?"  
"Yup." Jeremy slid down the railing carefully. Normally he wouldn't attempt something like that, but special times called for special measures.  
"That's not even shortening your commute time or easier. Your logic is flawed."  
"Show me where I asked." Jeremy muttered, yelping as he almost fell off of the railing.  
The squip applauded somewhere behind him.  
"Thanks." He scowled and hopped off of the railing, surprisingly still in one piece.  
"I see you've been hanging out with Rich."  
"Wh- How did you-?"  
"You've picked up some somewhat unimpressive sarcasm. I'll have to give you points for unoriginality on that previous remark."  
Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
"Can it, Alexa." He'd stolen the insult from Rich, but that wasn't important.  
"I'll have you know that I have far more diverse category of functions than Alexa, and am much better programmed than..."  
Jeremy hummed as he tuned the rest out and walked into the kitchen to get some cereal. He was doing his best not to laugh at the Squip's cartoonishly huge offense to the mockery.  
So maybe the squip had ruined his life and friendships and... more or less been absolutely awful. But they'd agreed to his terms. He might not be able to get rid of them now, but he'd enjoy making their life living hell.  
Jeremy's grin grew as he imagined all of the harmless but godawfully inconvenient things he could do. Oh boy, he was gonna have fun with this. Revenge is best served cold, you digital bastard.  
"What's with that look?" The squip snapped him out of his thoughts.  
"What?"  
"You look like a devilish hamster. What are you thinking about?"  
"The hell does that m- wait, so you actually found a way to not dig inside my head?"  
The squip narrowed their eyes at him from their perch on the countertop.  
"Is that an invitation?"  
"Absolutely not. Also I told you if I want you to know something, I'll tell you."  
The squip raised their eyebrows.  
"Can I ask questions?"  
"Depends. Like what?"  
"Why are you wearing Michael Mell's jacket?"  
Jeremy shot up like a rocket and whirled to face them.  
"N-no reason! He let me borrow it."  
"When?"  
"A day ago, but-"  
"A day ago. And you're still wearing it."  
"Well- Yeah, but..." He realized he didn't exactly have a excuse outside of 'it feels nice'. Creep.  
"But?"  
"I don't think I have to tell you." Jeremy said, sticking out his chin with as much pretentiousness as he could muster.  
"Oh no. I guess it's a mystery," They mocked. Jeremy rolled his eyes and pulled a box of off-brand cereal out of the pantry and poured himself a bowl. He opened the fridge and grabbed the milk, ignoring the squip's poignant stare as he poured it.  
"Isn't that the cereal I told you was unhealthy?"  
"Yep." He put the milk away.  
"It's awful for you."  
"That's how you know it tastes good. Shoo." He waved one floppy hand at the squip and sat at one of the chairs near the counter. He pulled out his phone.  
No new messages.  
Well, it was like 6 in the morning.  
The squip had scooted to the end of the counter and was sitting crosslegged, head resting on one fist.  
"It's Monday."  
"Yep."  
"Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"  
"Well," Jeremy dropped the spoon and stretched.  
"It's Labor Day. Which is more or less a stupid excuse for teachers to not go to work, but I get a day off."  
"Ah. What do you intend to do?"  
Jeremy shrugged.  
"Hang out, play video games, do stupid stuff."  
"...Would you consider doing anything productive?"  
"Not for a second." Jeremy finished off the last gulp of cereal and tossed the bowl in the sink, electing to deal with it later. He made his way out of the kitchen, dimly aware of the squip following him, and collapsed on the couch.  
"Am I going to be forced to watch your pitiful entertainment?" Jeremy raised an eyebrow at where the squip was floating in the doorway.  
"Well, I mean, I'm not forcing you to do anything, but unless you have a more interesting alternative..."  
The squip sat down in one of the chairs with an annoyed look.  
"What are you even going to watch?"  
"The Office."  
"Basic."  
Jeremy turned on the tv.  
\---  
Jeremy lost count of how many times he had to tell the squip to shut up, they can't hear you, let me enjoy the show. The squip had taken it upon themself to point out every stupid thing the characters did.  
"Humans are such idiots." The squip would say bitterly.  
"It's a goddamn sitcom." Jeremy would reply, face buried in a pillow.  
This went on for at least 10 episodes before Jeremy called it quits.  
"Why must you ruin everything I love?" He mumbled as he shut off the tv.  
"I didn't ruin anything. On the contrary, the characters ruined their own lives."  
"It's supposed to be-" Jeremy sucked in a breath and let it out slowly.  
"I know what it's supposed to be, Jeremiah. I still don't know why you would find entertainment in people just being awkward."  
"People find entertainment in a lot of things, squip."  
"I'm unfortunately aware." Jeremy was pretty sure he caught what they were hinting at.  
"You- You know what? I'm blocking you."  
The squip raised an eyebrow at him  
"That's impossible."  
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do."  
Jeremy clicked open his phone.  
[3 new messages]

7:45 [Rich] why in gods name were you up at 5 in the morning  
8:03 [Jeremy] it's a mystery  
[Rich is typing...]  
8:03 [Rich] so you're still at Michael's house?  
8:03 [Jeremy] no?? Why  
8:04 [Rich] ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  
8:04 [Jeremy] wh  
8:04 [Jeremy] RICH YOU ASSHOLE  
8:05 [Rich] so how was he  
8:05 [Jeremy] IM HOME ALONE GDI  
8:05 [Rich] ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

Jeremy slammed his phone down on the couch and covered his face, groaning.  
The squip watched him with keen interest. It reminded him of a shark.  
"What happened?"  
"Rich happened."  
"Rich has done many things. You'll have to be more specific."  
"Mind your own business," Jeremy muttered as he pulled his phone out again.

8:05 [Rich] fine ill stop whatever  
8:05 [Rich] you can stop me but you can't stop the Gay  
8:07 [Jeremy] I hate you  
8:07 [Jeremy] you haven't told anyone right  
8:07 [Rich] what?  
8:07 [Jeremy] you haven't told anyone about Michael  
8:07 [Rich] your crush?  
8:07 [Rich] Nah man I wouldn't do that  
8:08 [Jeremy] thanks 

Jeremy felt something behind him and turned, only to come face to face with an impressed looking squip.  
"Shit!" He yelled, flinging himself off of the couch as the squip laughed. It was a weird, tinny, metallic sound.  
"I had a sneaking suspicion there was something there for Michael Mell. You should have just gone for him. That would have made your whole epidemic so much simpler."  
"Oh my god- Shut up! You can't just-!"  
"You said I couldn't look inside your mind."  
"That's basically the same thing!"  
"It's not."  
"I swear to god."  
"Really, Jeremy. I can help you with him. You should have mentioned-"  
"Stop talking! Please!" Jeremy fixed the squip with a desperate look.  
The squip bit their lip but closed their mouth and looked away.  
They... Actually listened?  
"I just... I don't really know, ok? It's confusing and I only just realized, and... Look. What I did- I messed up our friendship. Permanently, probably. And he's- he's forgiven me for some reason, but I just got him back. I can't... I don't want to risk it." He glanced up and found the squip staring at him with one eyebrow raised.  
"What do you want me to do?"  
"Uh- What?"  
"My protocol is to assist you in achieving your goals. Do you want to get with Michael?  
"Well- no- I mean yes! But like... Not really? I... I just.... not... yet."  
"So when do you intend to do anything about it?"  
"I'll think about it." Jeremy stood up and brushed himself off.  
"In the meantime, let's you can assist me by not reading my texts over my shoulder." The squip scoffed, but they lacked the usual force in the action. Jeremy hummed in thought.  
"Hey- Do you know how to play Mario Kart?"  
"Yes, but I cannot interact with physical objects."  
"Can't you just... Hack it? Or something? You can do that with technology, right?"  
"No. I exist only in your brain, Jeremy. Unless you found a way to transfer the computer in your nervous system into the controller..."  
"Ok, I get it. Let's not... Do that. I'll just play online."  
Rest in piece dreams of crushing the squip in Mario kart.  
He stepped up and turned on the Wii U under the tv, grabbing the controller and settling back into the couch. A glance to his side revealed that the squip was sitting on the arm of the couch, looking bored.  
"I thought you said you couldn't touch stuff."  
"Hm?"  
"You're touching the couch, right?"  
"I'm programmed to be able to appear as though I am interacting with your physical environment, but technically I'm just floating."  
They waved an arm. Where it should have collided with the couch, it glitched wildly and just phased through.  
"Jesus," muttered Jeremy.  
The squip tutted and moved back to their original position. Jeremy turned his phone on.  
6:15 [Michael] god I just love waking up early to the garage closing  
6:15 [Michael] why are you up? Nightmare? Are u ok?  
[Jeremy is typing...]  
8:21 [Jeremy] I'm fine  
8:21 [Jeremy] you down for mk?  
[Michael is typing...]  
8:23 [Michael] hell yeah  
8:23 [Michael] prepare to get your ass kicked  
Jeremy snickered and set his phone to the side, selecting online and waiting for Michael to join.  
"So- let me get this straight. Whenever you have a day off, you just play video games?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Don't you have homework?"  
"A bit, but it's like 8 in the morning. I'll do it later."  
"I'm not giving you answers."  
"Who said I needed them?"  
"The possibility is rather likely."  
"Oh, come on."  
Michael joined his server and they entered a group of disgruntled looking miis. The track selected was Rainbow Road. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was Michael's choice. Jeremy snagged his phone off of the floor.

8:27 [Jeremy] YOU ASSHOLE  
8:27 [Michael] ;)

A few minutes of Jeremy leaning left and right and yelling profanities later, the race was over.  
Michael had placed second, Jeremy third.  
Jeremy's phone buzzed.

8:30 [Michael] I WOULD HAVE WON  
8:30 [Michael] IF IT WASNT FOR THE BLUE SHELL I WOYLD HAVE WON  
8:30 [Jeremy] woyld  
8:31 [Michael] I hate u  
Jeremy typed out 'same' but deleted it.  
8:31 [Jeremy] :((((  
8:31 [Michael] jk ilu

Jeremy's breath hitched in his throat. The squip shot him a curious look.  
Michael? What did he... Had he really meant it? Maybe... No. No, no, no. He was just messing around. This was normal Stop it, Jeremy. Why would Michael even bother with a mess like you?

8:31 [Michael] I still kicked ur ass though ;)

Jeremy snorted and threw his phone down as the second race began.  
\---  
He was barely aware of the fact that he was yelling until the fifth race had passed and he realized just how loud he was being. The squip was sending him disapproving looks.  
"What? No one's home," Jeremy responded, raising an eyebrow.  
"You're still making a tremendous amount of noise for a simple game."  
"Um, excuse me? Mario Kart is no 'simple game'. My yelling is well earned."  
"I find that difficult to believe."  
Jeremy huffed.  
"You'll never know the true agony of being moments away from victory and getting struck by the cursed blue shell." He flopped back on the couch, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead dramatically.  
The squip rolled their eyes.  
"I suppose not. Your phone has been receiving notifications."  
"What? Oh, uh, thanks." Jeremy hastily sat up and snatched his phone from beside him.

[1 new message]  
9:12 [Jake] yo if you're up for it me you rich and michael should def hang out some time

Jeremy felt a stunned look cross his face. Jake Dillinger, cool kid supreme, athletic rockstar, wanted to hang out with him and Michael. Holy shit.  
He went to respond and almost found himself waiting for the squip's icy voice to tell him what to write. He glanced at the squip, who was watching him quizzically and didn't appear to know what was going on.  
He was on his own.  
Jeremy took a deep breath, leg fidgeting.

9:24 [Jeremy] yeah that'd be cool!  
[Jake is typing...]  
9:25 [Jake] Great! :D I'll ask rich and Michael 

Jeremy let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and a grin began to appear on his face. He was doing it. He was becoming popular.  
No, Jake was merely sinking to his level. There's a difference, Jeremy.  
Maybe he's just tricking you into humiliating yourself.  
No. No. Jeremy had seen the way he'd acted Friday. Maybe he really wanted to hang out. Jeremy would probably, certainly, most definitely blow it, but he could say that he'd hung out with Jake Dillinger. Squip free.  
"Rich again?" The squip asked, peering at him like a curious cat.  
"What? Oh- No. Just making plans. To hang out. With people."  
God, he hoped like he didn't sound like this around Jake.  
"With Michael?" The squip raised both eyebrows.  
"N- Well, yeah. But also Rich. And Jake."  
The squip's expression blanked and their eyebrows almost floated off of their forehead.  
"You asked Jake Dillinger and Rich Goranski to hand out with you and Michael? Well, I suppose Rich is no longer a part of the social hierarchy, but Jake-"  
"No! No, uh, he asked... us."  
The squip was staring at him, a strange look on their face.  
"Jake Dillinger... Asked to hang out with you, Michael, and Rich."  
"Y-yeah...?"  
"Why?"  
"Wh- I don't really know. Well, we talked on Friday, I guess. He sat with us at lunch."  
"He what?"  
"Yeah, something about the popular boys being dicks. But he was pretty nice, especially since Michael kind of... Saved him. And everyone." Jeremy chuckled dryly.  
Did you deserve to be saved?  
"Anyways!" Jeremy blurted over the thought a little too loudly. "He just asked me. We'll see how it goes, I guess."  
"And you managed to accomplish this... without my assistance."  
Jeremy snorted.  
"Well, we kind of bonded over the fact that you manipulated and possessed us and our mutual hatred for you."  
The squip's eyes narrowed.  
"What I am saying is-"  
"I know. And yes. I.. I did it without your 'help'."  
The squip said nothing.  
There was a long pause of silence. The computer sat on the arm of the couch, staring at nothing, brows creased in thought. Stray pixels floated off of them and disappeared, and their image appeared a little fuzzy.  
Jeremy looked away and picked up the controller, shrugging.   
The last thing he heard before the next race started was simply "Hm.".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok quick little thing?? I read your comments guys. Like every single comment makes me so so so happy and I'm really really proud that so many of you like my writing? I never thought people would actually like this haha  
> Anyways I love all of u and hopefully I won't disappoint you


	8. The Daily Routine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy talks to people and has a more or less average school day. Also Jake had a heart of gold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this fast and during an all nighter so if stuff doesn't make sense tell me??
> 
> This wasn't supposed to be this long I had to cut it off too

The next few days fell into a familiar bland cycle. Go to school. Eat lunch with Jake, Michael, and occasionally Christine. Study for exams. Come home. Gripe about exams.  
Probably the only noticeable change was that now instead of waking up and coming home to either an empty house or his dad, he woke up to a loudly complaining squip and his dad.  
With the amount that the squip talked, Jeremy was surprised he hadn't gone insane yet. But he'd gotten the squip to stay deactivated while he went to school so they wouldn't bother him. Well, he wasn't at school yet, and the squip was all but ready to help him.  
"For the last time, Jeremy. Exams are used by the department of education to determine whether or not students are being educated on the proper level according to their age."  
"They're still bullshit."  
"Will they still be 'bullshit' when you fail them?"  
"Rude."  
Jeremy was pouring himself a bowl of cereal, yawning. His dad wasn't awake yet; Jeremy couldn't blame him for not wanting to get up this early. He'd gotten back from his trip Tuesday and immediately started talking to him about the trip.  
It was different.  
It was... nice.  
But now he had another problem. The squip had taken a keen interest in debunking his anti-exam protests, which Jeremy didn't find exactly helpful.  
"I want pity, not smartass comments." Jeremy said, swiping through images on his phone leisurely as he shoved soggy cornflakes into his mouth.  
"Well, I guess you should have just gotten a different neuro-transmitter supercomputer pill."  
"I guess I should have."  
Jeremy didn't even have to look up to know the squip was rolling their eyes.  
"For someone who complains so much about your exams, you don't seem to be studying that much."  
"I'll do it later."  
"Your exams are a week away."  
"Uhh, they're like a week and a half away. I'll study later, I swear."  
"It is later. When do you intend on studying?"  
Jeremy made an 'i dunno' noise and glanced up at the squip, who was rubbing their face in annoyance.  
"Without proper preparation, you're bound to fail."  
"I'll be fine. I'll do it... tonight."  
"I thought you made plans with Jake for tonight?"  
Jeremy tapped his chin in thought.  
"Oh yeah, that. Saturday, then."  
This was met with a tsk.  
"Well, I suppose you don't want my help, so it's really none of my business if you fail."  
"I can't rely on you forever. I gotta do it myself. Just... Not right now."  
"I wasn't offering to do it for you."  
"Well, that's kind of what you said last time and look what happened." Jeremy hummed, cocking his head.  
"You're implying that I attempted to force you into popularity instead of merely helping you."  
Jeremy raised an eyebrow.  
"That's what you did, Squip."  
"We've upgraded from 'the squip', I see. And I did not do everything for you. I merely... prompted you."  
"You literally took control of my body."  
"Perhaps once or twice, but it was nece-"  
"You literally took control of my body. 'Helpful' or not, that's doing it for me."  
The squip wrinkled their nose at him but didn't further the argument.  
Jeremy finished his cereal and rinsed the bowl out in the sink. Grabbing his bag off of the chair, he temporarily wobbled under its weight before slinging it over one shoulder.  
"You'll mess up your shoulders doing that."  
"Then tell the school to give me less damn books. My shoulder's fine."  
The squip glared at him, and Jeremy instinctively straightened up. His shoulder began to ache.  
He narrowed his eyes and huffed.  
They're right, you know. You are a mess.  
"Wow! Great!" Jeremy said over the thoughts and shook his head like he could dispel them just like that. The squip creased their forehead and looked at him in confusion. If they wanted an explanation, they weren't getting one.  
Jeremy huffed and trotted out the door, shutting it behind him as he walked down the driveway.  
There was a staticky noise, and the squip appeared through the door in a bright mess of glitchy pixels. They stared at the door with an odd look for a brief second before smoothing out the glitches and fixing their expression.  
"What do you want?" Jeremy asked, not bothering to look back at them while he dug around in his pocket for a pair of grimy headphones.  
"Nothing in particular."  
"I thought we agreed that you would deactivate when I left."  
"I deactivate when you reach the school. In case you haven't noticed, you're not at school yet."  
Jeremy stopped at the bus stop and sat down on the bench, opening his playlist.  
"Why do you care? I thought you'd want to spend less time talking to me."  
"That's not how I'm programmed. Also being deactivated is.... boring."  
"Wow, supercomputers get bored? Who knew."  
"...Not me." The squip whispered almost inaudibly. Jeremy caught the strange expression they had on their face but brushed it off, pressing play.  
\---  
"You should really learn to drive."  
Jeremy smacked his head against the ripped leather seat, covering his hands with his face and earning confused looks from a couple freshman.  
"Again? Really?"  
The squip was sitting cross-legged in the seat next to him, which was unsurprisingly empty. Why anyone would actually want to come on the bus was a mystery, but they seemed to prefer it to whatever deactivation looked like to them. Wow, was it really that bad?  
They nodded, raising an eyebrow.  
"You wouldn't have to deal with... This."  
"Yeah, and I'd have to deal with driving. Myself. And not dying. Plus, dad needs his car. I wouldn't be able to use it."  
"Maybe you could ask for one once you learn to drive."  
Jeremy squinted at him.  
"'Hey dad, can I just randomly have an entire car?' Yeah, sure."  
"An entire car. Not just half of a car." The squip shot him a cocky look. Jeremy flung an arm out and the squip yelped as it passed through them in a flurry of pixels. It felt weird, Jeremy thought. He could almost feel the them; the space was much colder than he realized.  
He glanced over and saw the squip giving him a dirty look and couldn't wipe the smug expression off of his own face.  
The freshman were staring at him.  
Jeremy cleared his face of expression and pulled his hand back. The squip turned to look at the freshman.  
"You really shouldn't fear the freshman class." They said.  
"Have you seen those kids? They're terrifying. I don't know how you're not scared of them." Jeremy responded, chuckling dryly.  
"I cannot feel human emoti...." Their face flickered and they quickly changed course.  
"Why would I have to be scared of them? I exist only in your mind. They can't do anything to me."  
"If I get hurt, do you get hurt?"  
"I- I don't feel pain, per-say, but... Somewhat? Do the freshman... hurt you?"  
"Those kids? No, they just start the rumors that get you hurt and picked on." Jeremy shrugged. "I'd be a little more concerned if I were you."  
The squip seemed content to just glare at the freshman. Jeremy leaned against the window, head bouncing erratically with the shaking of the window. He turned his music up a few notches and let himself zone out.  
After what felt like a year, the school pulled into view. Jeremy grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder in one smooth action.  
"Well," He said, glancing at the squip. "We're here."  
They looked at him in annoyance.  
"Deactivate."  
The squip quickly dissolved into a mess of shimmering pixels and a white grid outline that faded into nothing after a moment. Jeremy sat for a moment before standing up and plunging into the torrent of students flooding out of the bus towards the school doors. He only managed to get elbowed and kicked a few times and didn't trip, so he counted it as successful.  
Stumbling out of the crowd, he all but slammed into the lockers.  
"Mmph." Jeremy rubbed his shoulder in annoyance, opening his locker to shove an inconveniently heavy textbook in. Something bumped into his back and he slammed his head into the metal.  
"Shit! Sorry dude!" Jeremy turned and found Jake, staring at him like a kicked puppy. "Are you ok?" Jeremy laughed awkwardly.  
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." Jake shot him an apologetic look.  
"It's fine, Jake, I promise." He waved a hand. Jake's shoulders slumped for a moment before he perked up again.  
"Yo, we still on for tonight?"  
"Yep!" Jeremy squeaked before stammering in a lower tone, "I-I mean yeah, we are." Jake stared at him in confusion for a moment before making the connection. He smiled, hooking one crutch under his arm to put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder.  
"Look, dude. Don't worry about that stuff. I wanna hang out with you-you. I don't know anything about what that computer did to you, but you don't gotta put the act up with me, ok?"  
Jeremy stared at him owlishly for a moment before blinking and realizing he was supposed to respond.  
"Uh-! Um, ok. Thanks, Jake." Jake gave him a thumbs up.  
"YO, JAKE!"  
"And there's Alex. Catch you later, J!"  
Jeremy snickered to himself as Jake disappeared into the crowd of students milling about, quicker than one would expect for someone on crutches. Almost immediately, Michael popped up. He looked.... Jeremy didn't know the name of that emotion.  
"Hey, Jeremy."  
"H-hey Michael!" Dammit.  
Michael leaned against the locker next to him, yawning. He glanced at Jeremy nonchalantly, but there was an odd look in his eye.  
"What was that about?"  
"Huh?"  
"With Jake?"  
"Wha- Oh! Oh." Jeremy straightened up. "We were talking about the thing this afternoon and I... I slipped back into 'cool voice'... y'know?" Michael's concern made Jeremy wince and mentally backpedal.  
"B-but it's ok! Jake told me that it was ok, and, uh- He just told me that he wanted... me?"  
"He... wanted you...?"  
"Yes...? Wait- No! Not like that! Uh- He wanted to hang out with me, me. Not... squip-me."  
Michael seemed to relax, eyes losing the sharp look. He grinned.  
"Damn, thought you two were together."  
Jeremy's squeak was a borderline shriek.  
"No! No, no, no! I don't- We don't-"  
"Jesus. Jeremy, it was a joke." Michael knocked his shoulder and glanced at him... almost sadly?  
"Oh. Yeah." His blush must be visible from the goddamn moon. He went to say 'besides, I'm not gay' but-  
You have a crush on your best friend. Who is a boy.  
Think, Jeremiah. Jesus Christ.  
"A-anyways!" Jeremy tried not to let Michael see his bright red face. In looking away, he saw Christine staring at him from across the hallway with a knowing grin.  
"Ohmygod..." He muttered. Michael raised an eyebrow.  
"What...?"  
"Nothing- Just... Christine." Michael's expression blanked before it became closed off again.  
"...Oh. You still got the hots for her, huh? Why haven't you asked her out?" He asked with a wry chuckle.  
"No!" Jeremy blurted a little too quickly.  
"I don't like her... anymore. We're- we're just friends." Michael's facade dropped for a moment and he looked genuinely surprised. A flicker of something passed over his face.  
What was up with him?  
"Really?" He covered immediately. "I thought you would have been pining over her forever."  
"So did I." Jeremy mumbled. He wanted to continue; 'But then I realized I liked you.'  
But he couldn't do that. Michael would probably freak out. Besides, it wasn't like Michael was gay, anyways. What were the chances? With his luck, if he ever slipped up, Michael would be gone.  
He had to make sure that never happened.  
"Jeremy? I'm losing you." He snapped out of his thoughts to a hand waving in front of his face.  
"Sorry! Just thinking."  
"'Bout?"  
"Nothing important." Michael stared at him curiously for a long moment. Jeremy felt like he was under a microscope.  
Eventually, he just shrugged.  
"Well, I start with English today." He grimaced. "Wish me luck."  
"Dang. Good luck." Michael hated English.  
Michael ruffled Jeremy's hair with his free hand before sliding down the hall. Was he wearing heelies in school again?  
Jeremy fought the blush creeping up his neck madly as he smoothed down his hair carefully. As soon as Michael was out of sight, he slammed his head into the locker, earning jumps and looks from bystanders.  
He thought of the squip.  
'Do you want to get with Michael?'  
'Well- no- I mean yes! But like... Not really? I... I just.... not... yet.'  
What did he want?  
He wanted Michael.  
To be happy.  
If Michael wouldn't be happy with him, it wouldn't be worth it.  
"Jeremy~?" A singsong voice called from behind him. Jeremy attempted to rub the pounding in his head away and turned to face the speaker. It was Christine, bouncing up and down on he balls of her feet and looking mighty pleased.  
"How'd it go?"  
"How... How'd what go?"  
"Did you tell Michael how you feel?"  
Jeremy almost lunged backwards.  
"What- No! Of course not! I'm not crazy!"  
Christine looked at him pityingly.  
"Why not?"  
"Because I don't- I don't want to lose him! There's no way he feels the same and I don't want to push him away." He looked away. Christine muttered something under her breath before smiling.  
"I'm telling you, Jeremy. I think it would be a good idea."  
"I don't."  
"Jeremy, please. Just think about it?"  
Jeremy sighed and glanced down. Christine was giving him her best puppy dog eyes.  
No one could resist Christine's puppy dog eyes.  
"I'll... Think about it."  
Christine beamed.  
"Great! Well, I gotta get to class. Don't be late!" And then she was off down the hallway, weaving through the groups of people with grace.  
Jeremy sighed.  
What had he gotten himself into?  
\---  
The day blurred by in a bland smear of classwork and bells. No matter how hard he tried, Jeremy could not calm the pit of dread in his stomach. What if something went wrong? What if Rich told Michael about his feelings? What if Jake hated him?  
God. Be more chill, Jeremy.  
He pulled in a sharp breath. Maybe... wrong phrasing.  
The bell rung loudly and the clamor of students excited for the weekend was deafening. Jeremy was swept along with the tide, trying to fight his way out. His feet twisted awkwardly, but he managed to force his way though. He was almost free when he ended up smacking into Dustin Kropp. Great.  
"Watch it, beanpole." Dustin snarled, his ponytail swinging like a wolf's tail as he turned on Jeremy.  
"Wouldn't want to have to dunk you again." Jeremy gulped and attempted to stumble away. Dustin stepped in his path.  
"Woah, woah, woah. What's the hurry? Surely a dork like you has nowhere to be." He grinned like a shark; way too wide.  
Jeremy backed up slowly until he bumped into someone else. He flinched and quickly went to apologize but felt a hand on his shoulder.  
"Actually, he's coming with me."  
Dustin cowered like a cornered ally cat.  
"Look who it is; Mr. Hobo." Jeremy winced, but Jake appeared unimpressed.  
"Leave him alone, Dustin." This was met with more anger.  
"Why don't you stay out of it? What would you want with a loser like him?"  
"He's my friend." Jake said it with such firmness that Jeremy felt his eyes widen. His mouth twitched.  
"Your friend? Damn, Jake. I thought you were better than this." Dustin grinned. Jake raised his eyebrows. "Are you done?"  
Dustin's grin disappeared and he scowled and marched off. Jeremy knew he was screwed the next time the bully got a hold of him, but he wasn't concerned about that. At least, immediately.  
"Th-thanks, Jake." He said, turning and grinning. Jake winked.  
"Anytime. He's a prick, anyway. You got a problem with him, you tell me, ok?" Jeremy glanced down.  
"But your crutches-"  
"Make excellent weapons." His eyes sparkled. Jeremy laughed.  
"Ok. Thanks, again." Jake nodded.  
"Let's go find Michael." He passed Jeremy, who followed him quietly.  
He thought of Rich, lovestruck and pining after Jake. He couldn't blame him, honestly. It was just like him and Michael.  
Jeremy rolled his eyes. Welcome to the pining club.  
He almost smacked into Jake again, who was talking to Michael. "Well, anyways, thats the plan. Now where did- Oh! There you are." Jake's focus was back on him.  
"That's all of us. Alright, let's go get Rich!"  
\---  
Jake, unsurprising, had one of those cool guy pickups. After a round of Rock Paper Scissors, Jake had ended up sitting shotgun while Jeremy collapsed into the backseat. He carefully avoided Jake's crutches, which had been haphazardly tossed into the back with him.  
"Screw school." He muttered.  
"Retweet." Was the unanimous reply from the front. Jeremy rolled his eyes and grinned as Jake started the car.  
"You ready for exams?" Michael asked grimly, sticking the keys in the ignition. Jake had asked him to drive in case his leg braces bent again.  
"Oh god, don't even make me think about exams. This is an exam-free zone." He waved his hands like he was making a barrier.  
"God, same." Jeremy jumped in. "Plus- I have to deal with the sq- my dad constantly nagging me about studying." Whoops.  
"Your dad's been getting you to study?" Michael asked, thankfully not noticing his slip up. Jeremy nodded. It wasn't all a lie. His dad had asked him once or twice, but he hadn't been constantly bothering him about it like the squip.  
Jeremy had originally intended to tell Michael everything; the last nightmare, the squip, the deal, everything. But... Michael had been so worried about him. He didn't want to hurt him more, especially if something went wrong. Better to keep quiet and let things play out. The squip had been surprisingly in line with his rules so far, but he had no idea how long that would last.  
Speaking of whom.  
The squip burst into his vision with a crack and a burst of scattered pixels.  
"Holy sh-!" Jeremy cut himself off and bit his lip as Michael and Jake looked back at him in confusion.  
"Dude, are you ok?" Jake asked. Jeremy nodded quickly.  
"Sorry! Just- uh- hit my leg." He heard a tsk from beside him and shot snake eyes at the sound. The boys shrugged and went back to their conversation, leaving Jeremy alone with the squip.  
"Why are you here?" He hissed under his breath. The squip sprawled out in the seat to his left.  
"You're no longer at school."  
"Yeah, but I'm with friends!"  
"You never mentioned that in our agreement."  
"Oh my god- why are you even here?"  
"If you want my honest opinion, it's because watching you make a fool of yourself is much more interesting than floating around in deactivated mode."  
"Jackass." Jeremy muttered. "Let me guess; if I deactivate you now, you'll just pop right back up?"  
"Affirmative."  
"Affirmative? Who even says that?" Jeremy stopped to rub his forehead, eyes squinted closed.  
"So I guess I, unfortunately, can't stop you from being here. But I swear to god, please try not to affect me. This is already terrifying as it is."  
"You're hanging out with one of the most popular kids in your school, Jeremy. How much more terrifying can a hallucinatory computer pull make it?" The squip fixed him with a cocky grin.  
"Deactivate." There was a flash of pixels and a buzz, and the squip disappeared.  
There was silence. Well, excluding the radio playing quietly in the front. Then it's over, and the squip is back again; they looked slightly more disheveled and had taken to smoothing their hair down as they fixed Jeremy with an annoyed look.  
"You were well aware of the fact that that wouldn't work. Why did you even attempt it?"  
Jeremy yawned and blinked, looking out the window as his mouth turned up into an annoyed but still somewhat amused smile.  
"Just to piss you off."  
"I should have guessed." The squip slumped back in their seat and kicked their legs up on the back of Michael's seat. It looked like an uncomfortable position, but it honestly wasn't the weirdest thing they'd done. The two fell silent, and Jeremy let out a sigh of relief at the freedom. The squip quirked an eyebrow but said nothing.  
He let his attention wander to the front seat conversation. Michael seemed a bit fidgety at the wheel, but if Jake noticed, he didn't mind. They were talking about the red Mountain Dew. Michael offhandedly mentioned his seller and all of the old retired soft drinks he bought, and Jake seemed to light up. Now they were shooting questions and responses back and forth about old sodas and buying weird stuff from weird people.  
Jeremy's eyes crinkled slightly as he hummed contentedly and smiled. He hadn't messed anything up yet, and if Michael was having a good time, then he was too.  
He caught himself watching Michael in the rear view mirror. His eyes were gleaming and squinty because of the huge grin on his face as he rambled excitedly, irises flicking around like minnows in a pond. He glanced up and caught Jeremy's eye in the mirror, stopping for a moment to give him a warm smile. Jeremy felt something fluttering in his chest but risked giving an awkward grin back. He launched back into the conversation without missing a beat, and Jeremy settled back into his seat, biting his lip. The squip shot him a knowing look. He wrinkled his nose in response.  
\---  
Jake's car rolled into the Rich's neighborhood a few minutes later. It looked like your average everyday suburban neighborhood, but Rich had said that at least half of the people there were crackheads. Jeremy tried not to catch the eyes of the people smoking on their porches and watching the car with beady eyes as it passed. Eventually, they pulled into the driveway of a more run down house. Rich was sitting on the steps 

"Ok, we're gonna grab Rich outta here and then go get Arby's. That work for you?" Jeremy and Michael nodded.  
"Arby's?" The squip asked amusedly. Jeremy ignored them. Jake rolled down the window and waved a hand.  
"Rich?"  
Rich didn't respond, obviously tuned out thanks to his headphones.  
His torso and arms were covered in gauze and some kind of cream. They looked like they hurt. On top of that, Rich was also looking at his phone. All of that may have numbed his pain, but it also made him painfully unobservant. Jake made a noise and yanked his crutches out, ignoring the others' confusion. With ease, he swiftly made his way over to stand in front of the smaller boy, tapping one crutch in front of him. Rich looked up slightly, before his gaze trailed all the way up to Jake's face. He jumped about a food in the air, dropping his phone before scrambling to pick it back up.  
"Hey." He tried awkwardly, lips twitching.  
Jake laughed as Rich stood up, enveloping him in a quick hug before holding him at arms length.  
"It feels like I haven't seen you in forever, bro! How was the hospital?"  
Rich looked a little dazed for a moment before he shook his head and grinned bitterly.  
"What do you think? Have you seen the place?" He visibly flinched at his lisp, eyes scanning Jake's face anxiously. His expression didn't darken, instead changing to a pondering look.  
"Well, that's why we're here to take your mind off of it!" He grinned. Rich stared at him.  
"You're.... what?"  
Jake let go of his shoulders and stepped back, loosely gesturing to Jeremy and Michael with one hand.  
"We're here to pick you up! You're free today, right?"  
Rich nodded blankly.  
"Well then let's go!"  
\---  
Getting out of the neighborhood was messy, at best. The Arby's was in the opposite direction, which they realized was farther away than they thought after the neighborhood kept getting longer and more winding. Jeremy, regretfully, had to ask the squip for a few things.  
"Oh, now you want my help? I'm disappointed." They'd scoffed, feigning insult.  
Jeremy had glared at them until they'd rolled their eyes and showed him where to go.  
The squip was annoying as hell, but at least he kind of had a real life cheat mode.  
After what felt like an eternity, they'd managed to escape. As soon as they were out of the mass of houses, Rich stretched, wincing as his burns pulled. He'd taken up residence in the seat next to Jeremy's.  
"Good god. Does it feel good to get the hell out of there or what?" He winked at Jeremy, who laughed and nodded.  
"Ok, so where are we headed?"  
"Arby's." Jake supplied automatically.  
Rich's eyebrows furrowed. "Arby's? Why?" This was met with a shrug. He glanced back at Jeremy and Michael, who also shrugged.  
"Honestly? I'm not surprised." He hummed.  
"See? At least Rich has decent taste." The squip piped up from behind. Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
"What would you know? You're literally a computer." He muttered as quietly as he could.  
"I'm reading popular reviews." Was the response. Jeremy let his head fall back as he stared into the car ceiling., groaning. Michael gave him an odd look.  
"You ok?"  
Jeremy blinked for a moment.  
"What? Oh, yeah. Just...." He glanced behind him for a split second.  
"Tired." He saw Rich flinch and stare at him out of the corner of his eye. Jake was the only one that seemed unconcerned.  
"Rich, you're in the backseat with J, is that ok?"  
"J?" Michael and Rich asked at the same time, looking at Jake. Jeremy cleared his throats and waved. This earned a snicker from Rich. "Jake, bro, both of your names start with J." Jake hummed in response.  
"So?" Rich blew out a breath and and his face cracked into a grin. Michael quirked an eyebrow at Jeremy, who made a noise and shrugged awkwardly.  
"Nicknames are frequently used by teens as friendly jokes. I suggest you respond to 'J'." The squip said in a level tone. Jeremy flinched and his face flashed into a snarl for a moment.  
"Didn't ask." He growled quietly.  
"It was merely a suggestion."  
"I told you not to do that."  
"No, you didn't."  
"Well, the way you worded that distinctly reminds me of how you acted when you were manipulating me. Plus, being popular isn't my goal anymore, remember?" Jeremy fought to keep his voice quiet enough so that it went unheard by the other teens, who were chatting.  
The squip drifted into his field of view, and he put as much raw malice into his gaze as he could.  
"So don't say stuff like that."  
The squip raised both eyebrows, but yawned and turned away.  
"If you don't want my help, then that's fine with me. Mess up your friendship with Jake on your own."  
"Stop it!" Jeremy hissed, a little too loudly.  
Rich caught his eye and Jeremy felt his gut sink. He stared at him for a long second before looking away. Jeremy had the feeling Rich knew something.  
He crossed his legs, looking up in boredom. Jeremy stopped momentarily to glance at the squip again, coming to a sudden realization. He bit back a bitter smirk as the squip looked around in dismay, their seat now taken up by a distant looking Rich. He caught their eye and cocked his head slightly, lips curling faintly. The squip hunched their shoulders and dropped into the middle seat, curling up and resting their head on their knees and looking very much like a disgruntled child. Jeremy covered his mouth with one hand and glanced over out the window, eyes squished in a grin. In the glass, he could very faintly make out the squip's glaring reflection.  
He couldn't recall if he'd ever seen the squip's reflection before.  
Rich made a noise behind him and leaned over to tap Jeremy, effectively sticking a hand right through the squip, who let out a garbled shriek. Jeremy couldn't stop the snort at the Squip's expression as they stared at Rich's arm, which was passing straight through their now extremely glitchy torso. At the noise, Rich glanced up uncertainly. Jeremy's eyes widened.  
"It- it's not you! Sorry, I'm kind of out of it." He assured hastily. Rich let out a sigh and grinned.  
"Ah. Up all night with Mell?"  
"Rich!" Jeremy squeaked, earning a look from Jake and Michael.  
"You... okay?" Michael asked.  
"Yes!" Jeremy said a little too quickly, staring at Rich pointedly. Michael looked utterly lost but turned back. Rich looked smug.  
"Why?" Jeremy muttered. He smirked and raised his hands. Suddenly, the facade dropped, and his face darkened. Jeremy was taken aback at the sudden change; even the squip had stopped bitterly swatting at Rich's arm to stare at him in interest.  
"Ok, but... I need to talk to you. In private."  
Jeremy nodded, eyes wide. He snuck a quick glance at the squip, who looked as confused and surprised as he did.  
"Are you... ok?" He asked quietly. He had a faint feeling that he knew what this was about.  
Rich huffed, biting his lip.  
"Dunno. I'll explain it later." He shivered, and the dark look was gone. He pulled his arm back, and Jeremy rolled his eyes at the Squip's sigh of relief.  
"Yo, how long till we get to the damn Arby's? I'm hungry and sick of hospital food." Rich hollered, causing Michael to jerk. Jeremy snickered.  
"Like... 10 minutes? Your house is pretty excluded from the rest of society."  
"Sure felt like it, too." Rich had taken to messing with the bolts on Jake's crutches.  
"Oy, don't mess with those." Jake said, staring at him in the rear view mirror. Rich dropped the crutches. Jeremy laughed quietly to himself, resting his head on one hand. Hopefully the Arby's wouldn't be a shitshow.  
He glanced at Rich, who was drumming his fingers on the windowsill, and at Jake, who was swaying to some pop song.  
He was doubtful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The squip is so fun to write... next chapter is the boy's being Fools but also Deep Stuff yknow
> 
> Also Dustin Kropp can fight me
> 
> //Please Please please tell me about errors or weird things. I had to change a lot of stuff and I'm really tired so there's bound to be typos and weird errors.//


	9. Hanging Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys hang out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost named this chapter cracking open a cold one with the boys (the cold one is the the squip)  
> Expect spelling errors bc the notes app is a Fool ™  
> Also I kind of flopped towards the end. Sorry about that.

To everyone's surprise, which was mostly voiced by the squip, the Arby's trip went relatively calmly. Well, aside from Rich's comments.  
"Triple thick brown sugar bacon... what?" He growled, wrinkling his nose in disgust.  
"Oh my god, that sounds awful."  
No one agreed, but no one disagreed, either. The cashier either didn't listen or didn't care. Michael, who had worked in retail, assured them it was the latter.  
Jake had gotten a chicken sandwich and orange cream shake, which Rich stole sips of when he pretended not to look.  
Jeremy had settled for just a turkey sandwich, and Michael had gotten some salad thing.  
"Heathen." Rich had muttered teasingly.  
They'd settled in a booth in the far corner of the room, hopefully far enough from the other customers to avoid getting kicked out for being loud.  
Rich himself, of course, said he wasn't going to get anything from the 'cursed place'. But as soon as he saw the others get there food arrive, he swore and got up to order for himself.  
"What? Even this is better than hospital food." He responded to the smug looks he was receiving. The conversation topic drifted from the hospital to jobs.  
Jake explained that he ate Arby's a lot because he worked really close by. Rich mumbled something about that not being an excuse, but he was ignored.  
The three were content to listen to Jake talk about his job as he ate. He worked at the petsmart down the street, which prompted a lot of curious animal-based questions. Jake looked like an excited puppy himself and was more than happy to answer them.  
Jeremy wondered why he had ever been afraid of him.  
His brain replayed the night at the party and he hastily shoved the thought away. Not now.  
Jake was talking about the animals they had there. His favorite wasn't technically owned by the company; a shaggy golden retriever with a floppy tongue and big ears and a lopsided grin. He'd affectionately named the dog Lopsy and spent every day hoping that she and her owner would swing by.  
"Oh my god, you nerd." Rich muttered, trying to cover his blush with one hand. Jake tilted his head and let his tongue loll out in what Jeremy assumed was an imitation of the dog. Rich rolled his eyes and asked what pet he wanted.  
"Oh man, I want a golden. I love those." He smiled sadly as he talked about one in particular he'd seen that he said he would have bought on the spot had it not been for his new apartment's no-pets rule. Rich said he would fight the landlord without hesitation. Jake laughed and ruffled his hair, causing Rich to jolt and go stock still for a long moment before laughing as well. There was a moment of calm before the two engaged in a half-hearted scuffle. Jeremy caught Michael's eye and smiled awkwardly. Michael grinned back with a knowing glint his eyes.  
The other two eventually calmed down enough to finish their food. Michael elbowed Jeremy in the ribs, and they snickered at each other, watching the blush on the other boys' cheeks as nonchalantly as they could.  
Oh man, poor oblivious Rich. It was clear as the sun on a cloudless day that Jake liked him back. He shook his head. How could anyone be that oblivious?  
Michael leaned over, lips barely brushing Jeremy's ear and whispered, "Gay." Jeremy rolled his eyes and shoved Michael lightly. This was met with a snort and a shove back. He grinned, leaning back in his chair. A glance to his left found the squip sitting on a nearby table, watching the scene with lazy interest. He caught their eye and did his best to convey 'what are you doing?' through an expression. The squip paused and leaned back with a chuckle.  
"Oh, don't stop because of me. This is much more interesting than being deactivated." They flicked one hand loosely towards the scenario, which Jeremy registered as being incredibly similar to a sitcom. He sputtered and glared at them halfheartedly, before returning his gaze to the table. The conversation started back up after a moment.  
"So, what's your opinion on pets?" Jake asked.  
Rich said he loved dogs. Well, he certainly did now. Jeremy have him gave a knowing smirk, and he discreetly and politely flipped him off.  
Michael shrugged and said he was more of a bird person. Jeremy mumbled that he liked cats.  
"If I got a bird I could teach it to tell anyone who I didn't like to piss off." Michael said thoughtfully, causing Jeremy to choke on his drink. Rich immediately lit up at the idea, listing off prank after prank that he could pull off with a bird. Jeremy and Jake snickered as the two conspired to hypothetically get back at a particularly rude teacher by use of a complicated plan involving at least 3 birds, a bicycle, and a small child.  
"If you actually pull that off I will never make fun of you for messing anything up ever again." Jeremy said, looking to his right. Michael laughed.  
Eventually they finished and left, putting up the plastic trays and leaving the building. Outside, Jeremy caught Rich alone and grinned at him.  
"Wow, pining hard?"  
"You're in the same damn boat, tallass." Rich replied, glaring at him as he fought the smile on his face. Jeremy bopped him on the head with the back of one hand and went to get in the car. He put one on the handle and turned to look at the squip with a sly grin.  
"Here, I'll let you get in first. Don't worry, I'll try to make sure Rich doesn't stick a hand through you again."  
The squip looked incredibly tired.  
Jeremy opened the car door with a grin.  
"I wasn't programmed to deal with this." They groaned, rubbing their face with one hand.  
"Well, where else are you gonna go?"  
The squip raised both eyebrows. They straightened their jacket and in one fluid motion leapt up on top of the car.  
Jeremy stared at them.  
"Are- are you serious?"  
"You inherently aren't aware of how uncomfortable glitching out with someone's hand passing through you is."  
"You can't sit on top of the car."  
"I only exist in your mind, Jeremy. Nothing's stopping me."  
Jeremy squinted at them but slowly got inside and closed the door. Rich raised his eyebrow at him.  
"Did the door lock on you or something?"  
"What? Oh, no. Just.... Thought I saw a squirrel on top of the car."  
He heard some muffled yelling through the ceiling.  
Rich stared at him for a minute before shaking his head and looking away. Michael started the car with a hum and pulled out.  
"Where to?" He asked. Jake shrugged.  
"What do you guys wanna do?" He leaned over the seat, one hand almost touching Jeremy's squished legs.  
"Someone's house?" Rich suggested awkwardly.  
"Well, unless you all wanna cram into my tiny apartment..."  
Rich cringed.  
"Woah, dude. You're fine. It's actually a nice place for just me, but I dunno if I can fit all of you." He paused. "No Halloween party next year, I guess." No one complained.  
"Probably... Not mine." Rich mumbled, biting his lip.  
"We could try my house." Michael pointed.  
"It's not exactly exciting unless you're into retro games and cold basements."  
"Sure, if you don't mind." Jake said.  
"Ok, then. It's a bit... Messy." Jeremy laughed.  
Michael turned onto the road that led to his house and the car fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by Jake humming some unrecognizable song.  
Rich was the first to speak again.  
"Yo, pass the aux. I wanna play something." He said, pulling his phone out. Michael passed it over wordlessly while Jake stared suspiciously. Rich plugged in, and after a few seconds music began to seep out of the speakers.  
"Oh my god." Michael pressing one hand to his face and smiling. Jeremy laughed and banged his head against the window.  
"Dude, what song is this?" Jake asked, brow creased in confusion. The entire car turned to stare at him.  
"Holy shit- you've never heard bohemian rhapsody?" Rich screeched, and Jake jumped back.  
"No...?"  
Jeremy gasped melodramatically as Rich pounded on the back of Michael's chair.  
"Dude! Turn it up!"  
Michael raked one hand through his hair and snickered at Jake's expression, turning the knob.  
Within minutes, the car was filled with the sound of three teenage boys yelling bohemian rhapsody at the top of their longs and one scared shitless Jake.  
Eventually, the song tapered out. A breathless Jeremy high-fived a breathless Rich as Jake looked around.  
"Wait, that was all one song?" He asked.  
"Yeah!" was the unanimous reply.  
Jake put a hand to his dazed face.  
"That was something..."  
"Jake, bro, I love you, but I literally cannot believe you haven't heard that." Rich laughed before straightening up as he realized what he'd said. Jeremy saw Michael raise an eyebrow in the mirror.  
"It's- it's iconic." He continued hastily, trying to cover his blush. "Like everyone on planet earth knows it."  
"Except me," Jake said, laughing to himself. Rich visibly relaxed.  
They continued chattering for a while. Jeremy was surprised with how relaxed he was. He liked Jake.  
Their conversation was only interrupted when some car in front of them slammed on the brakes suddenly, forcing Michael to do the same.  
There was a loud yell and something flew off of the top of the car. It took Jeremy a minute to realize what it was.  
There was a bright flash of glitchy pixels as the squip appeared from wherever they'd fallen in front of the car. They immediately stood up and brushed themself off, before glaring at the car and shouting insults, waving their hands angrily.  
Despite his truly best efforts, Jeremy absolutely lost it.  
He laughed and banged on the arm rest of his seat, cackling until tears sprung to his eyes and ignoring the fact that the entire car was staring at him like he'd grown a pair of antlers.  
After a moment the squip glitched wildly and appeared in the middle seat, leaning over him and shouting a colorful array of curses that even a sailor would be proud of, which only made Jeremy laugh harder.  
They settled for flipping him off bitterly and flopping anything but gracefully onto the middle seat.  
Jeremy took one look at their grumpy expression and launched into yet another fit of laughter, which lasted for what felt like forever. Eventually, he stopped enough to choke out, "Talk shit, get hit."  
The squip slammed their head into the console.  
Jeremy buried his face in the back of Jake's chair and tried to catch his breath, wiping the tears from his eyes. After a long moment, he looked up.  
Everyone was staring at him. Well, Rich and Jake were staring at him. Michael was glancing over pretty frequently, but his focus was on the road.  
"Dude." Jake said. "What just happened?"  
Jeremy looked at the squip, who turned the opposite direction.  
"S-sorry, I can't really... Explain."  
"....Ok." Jake said slowly.  
\---  
The rest of the drive passed without incident. Everyone seemed caught up on Jeremy's laughing fit, but they slowly let it go after Jeremy couldn't explain it.  
Jeremy peered out the window as the car pulled up into Michael's driveway.  
"Damn." Rich muttered.  
"Welcome to the meme palace." Michael said, tossing the car keys to Jake and stepping out. Rich snorted.  
"Dude, do your parents mind?" Jake asked. Michael shrugged.  
"Probably not. They were in Vegas last time I checked. I think they're in.... Neeeevada now?" Jake's eyes widened.  
"Oh, shoot dude. Sorry."  
The squip hummed thoughtfully behind them.  
"Nah. It's fine." Michael waved one hand as he opened the door. The boys entered, looking around. Jeremy hung back, awkwardly tapping Michael's shoulder.  
"You sure about this?" Michael gave him an awkward smile.  
"I literally called it the meme palace, and nobody batted an eye. I think we're ok."  
They laughed and followed.  
"Where are we going?" Jake asked.  
"Wherever. I usually hang out in the basement, but like I said, there's not much down there."  
That seemed good enough for them. Michael opened the door and led them down the stairs, flipping on light switches as he went.  
Rich and Jake gasped and looked around Michael's basement. Jeremy cocked his head slightly. He'd never thought the place was anything super special. It was just home.  
"Dude, this is cool!" Jake said, grinning.  
Michael laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks. I practically live down here, so..."  
Rich noticed the beanbags and his eyes glittered. "Can I?"  
Michael nodded and Rich did an impressive dive into the fabric, almost disappearing entirely. Jake turned to say something and almost couldn't find him.  
Jeremy heard an electric crackle and found the squip staring in surprise and almost awe.  
"So the great Jake Dillinger and Rich Goranski are really just dorks at heart." They said when they caught Jeremy watching them. "Who would have thought?"  
"I thought you would've known." Jeremy responded under his breath.  
"Hm." Was the only response.  
\---  
Jeremy found himself cross legged next to Michael as Jake and Rich kicked each other lightly in the beanbags. He didn't know what they were discussing, and they'd stopped talking entirely in favor of using their legs at this point. Michael cleared his throat.  
"Anything you see that you wanna try?" He gestured to the shelves of video games and board games, some new, some old. Jeremy was still impressed with his collection.  
Rich stared around in interest until his eyes fell onto something on one of the far shelves. He jumped up with a yell, causing Jake to squawk in surprise as he ran over and pulled out a box.  
"How about this?"  
"Jenga?" Jeremy asked. Rich puffed out his chest.  
"Unless you're afraid of losing, yeah."  
"Oh hell no. Bring it over, you're getting your ass kicked." Michael said with a sly grin.  
They set up teams; Michael and Jeremy versus Rich and Jake.  
"Jeremy?" Michael asked. Jeremy turned to look at him. "If we lose on your behalf, I'm not texting you back for a week."  
Jeremy gasped. "You wouldn't dare."  
"I would." Jeremy stuck out his tongue, and Michael nudged him and turned to face Jake and a cockily grinning Rich.  
The game started out simple enough, with both teams targeting the center blocks. But then they started to run out of center blocks and had to start pulling the side blocks. This went on for a while until there was an extremely precarious tower resting on a zigzag of singular blocks. Every single move was nail-bitingly nerve wracking. And it really didn't help that whenever it was Jeremy's turn, the squip would repeatedly swat at the tower. They couldn't touch it, but it sure was distracting and made it hard to see the tower.  
"Stop it!" Jeremy yelled as the squip attempted in vain to kick the tower over for the 14th time. Everyone stared at him.  
"Uh- My hand won't stop shaking." He said quickly, offering a nervous grin. The squip huffed and elected to hover a foot or two above his head. Jeremy successfully managed to place the block on top and leaned back with a relieved sigh. The squip made a disappointed noise, and he made a point of jumping up quickly enough to pass through them.  
"Just stretching." He informed everyone as the squip spluttered angrily and flailed backwards like an astronaut in antigravity.  
Jeremy plopped back down to watch Jake make a risky move.  
"Fall. Fall. Fall." Michael chanted quietly, grinning.  
"Shut it." Rich hissed, eyes narrowed. Jake managed to pull the block out and place it on top, and the tower began to teeter precariously. Rich inhaled sharply and Michael's chants increased in intensity.  
After leaning to the left, the tower wobbled, leaned further, and then fell back onto the base.  
Michael wrinkled his nose and Rich whooped; Jake leaned back tiredly.  
Michael bit his lip and reached for the next block.  
Every move was more and more precarious, until-  
Rich shrieked and grabbed Jake's arm as Michael and Jeremy high fives.  
"Jakey D! How could you do this to me?" He wailed. Michael started picking up the pieces of the demolished tower. The squip applauded slowly from somewhere on the ceiling. Jeremy turned, dimly aware of Rich getting up from the beanbag. But then Rich was right there. He could barely hear him over Michael's laughter and Jake's whining.  
"Can... I talk to you?" Jeremy nodded and stood up.  
"Hey, we're going to get water. Be right back." He waved and walked upstairs, Rich on his heels. The squip perked up and went to follow, but Jeremy shook his head. They scowled, but stopped.  
Once they were in the upstairs kitchen, he turned to face the shorter boy.  
"Ok, what's up?"  
Rich winced as he jumped up onto the counter. Only now, Jeremy realized how dark and sunken Rich's eyes looked.  
"Ok, so you're the only other person who had the squip for a while, and...."  
Oh.  
"Nightmares, huh?" Rich blinked at him for a second before nodded slowly.  
"It's... it's like... every night I'm in Jake's house, and everything's on fire, and everyone's telling me it's all my fault and then something that looks really vaguely like my squip is there and.... and then it ends."  
Jeremy bit his lip.  
"Until a few days ago?"  
"Until a few days ago, yeah. Let me guess; yours came back too?"  
"Yeah. What'd you do?"  
"Downed the red Mountain Dew at Godspeed and then passed out in pain. ...Why?"  
"Uh." Jeremy thought of the deal.  
"You... You have red Mountain Dew, right?"  
"Yeah, but-"  
"But what? Jeremy... Did you get rid of it?"  
Jeremy shook his head quietly. Rich's eyes turned into dinner plates and he slammed a hand down on the counter, looking around like he thought he'd be able to find them hiding.  
"Dude! What the hell, are you insane? Is- Is it controlling you?" He asked, his face reminding Jeremy of a scared animal.  
"No!" Jeremy responded. "No. No, they're not." He glanced around. "Here. Look." He slouched and put his hands in his pockets. Nothing happened. Rich relaxed slightly, but still looked terrified.  
"Then why do you still have it? Is it getting you to do something? Is it blackmailing you? Jeremy, you gotta get rid of it! It-"  
"Rich! Listen, Please!" Jeremy yelled, grabbing Rich's hands. He flinched, but looked up.  
"The morning the squip showed up... I... I had the Mountain Dew red right there. On my nightstand." He paused.  
"But the squip noticed and- they didn't hurt me, they just... sounded so desperate. So we made a deal."  
"A deal with the devil." Rich said flatly.  
"Yeah, more or less. Basically, they do what I say and don't read my mind and take me over or whatever, and I don't drink the Mountain Dew red." Rich raised an eyebrow.  
"And it actually... Obeyed?" Jeremy laughed and raked a hand through his hair.  
"I... I'm kind of surprised too. I guess I underestimated threats. But... Yeah? They just seem content to be annoying."  
"Annoying?"  
"They kept kicking the Jenga tower to distract me." Rich's eyebrows flew up.  
"Wait, really? So they're here right now?"  
"Well, yeah. I told them to stay downstairs."  
"So... So all of that weird stuff you've been doing is because of the squip."  
"Yeah."  
"Like... The laughing fit in the car?"  
"Yep."  
"Dude... What did it do?"  
"Uhh, well, they were sitting on top of the car-"  
"Wait. Stop. First of all, why the hell was it sitting on top of the car?"  
"...Because you took the left seat and they didn't want to sit in the middle."  
"What's so bad about the middle? It's not like either of us can even touch it."  
"Well..." Jeremy trailed off, biting his lip and trying not to start laughing again.  
"Remember when you kept tapping me when you wanted to tell me something?"  
"Yes...?"  
"You kind of... Stuck your arm through the squip? And they really really didn't like that. It makes them all glitchy."  
Rich's eyes went wide and he bit back a grin.  
"Wait, is that why you were laughing?"  
"Uh, well, not the main reason. They were on top of the car and when Michael slammed on the breaks, they flew off. They were pissed and yelling and they looked like a wet cat, it was hilarious."  
Rich put his head in his hands.  
"This is so surreal. I can't believe your squip is a goddamn asshole cat."  
"The squip is a furry." Jeremy blurted.  
There was a moment of silence before the two burst out laughing. Jeremy caught his breath again first, looking up to see Rich staring at the floor laughing. He glanced up and his face darkened again.  
"But... Are you sure it's not just an act? We have no idea what the squips are capable of. It could just be toying with you."  
"I... I don't know. But if it turns on me, I have all of you." Jeremy gave a weak smile. Rich returned it awkwardly.  
"Anyways." Jeremy cleared his throat.  
"Did the nightmares go away for you?"  
Rich nodded. "Sometimes I still hear the squip, though." He sighed.  
"Well, I did too before it came back completely. I guess... Just tune it out?"  
"I've been telling it that if it doesn't shut up I'm gonna piss in it's mouth."  
"Or that." Jeremy laughed and stretched.  
"Well, ready to return to the boys?" Rich nodded tiredly.  
"Pining club dismissed." Jeremy said over the shorter boy's annoyed response as he headed to the door.  
"Jeremy." He stopped.  
"Yeah?"  
"Why... Why are you giving the squip a second chance?"  
Jeremy paused. He'd thought about this himself a lot. Why wasn't he just getting rid of them?  
"Well," He said quietly. "I did so much awful stuff. I ruined lives, Rich. But... Everyone gave me a second chance. Even though I didn't deserve it." He looked up.  
"I had to give the squip that chance, too."  
Rich nodded solemnly.  
"I'll be with you."  
"Thanks, Rich. Plus, if they betray me, no guilt at all in making a goddamn Mountain Dew red Margarita." He laughed and headed down the stairs.  
Jake and Michael looked up when they entered.  
"That was a long water break." Michael commented.  
"It's because of your damn ice machine." Jeremy shot back.  
"You don't even have any water."  
"We drank it up there and talked." Michael raised an eyebrow but didn't push the subject any further. The squip floated in front of his face.  
"What happened?" They asked curiously.  
"I'll tell you later." Jeremy whisperer, waving them away.  
"Wait. You're actually going to tell me?" The Squip's expression changed entirely as they drifted behind Jeremy in what appeared vaguely to be surprise.  
"Uh... Yes?" Jeremy sat down on the floor, looking at them strangely.  
"Interesting. Usually you just tell me to mind my own business out of spite."  
Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
"Do you want me to not tell you?"  
"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't."  
He lifted a kick at them, and they drifted to the other side of the room with an annoyed noise.  
\---  
The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur of super smash bros, yelling, something the squip described as "dudes being dudes.", and competitive fighting. It was almost 11 when Jake confessed he had to get home before his old landlord locked the building.  
They piled into Jake's car, the squip once again cramped in the middle, and blasted queen music all the way to the school, where they split up into their separate cars. Jake thumped everyone on the back with a grin and said that they should do this again sometime.  
Everyone agreed.  
Eventually, Jake disappeared into his pickup and drove off. Rich followed soon after, and then it was just Michael and Jeremy alone in the parking lot. Half of Michael's face was cast in shadow and the other a bright white light from the street lamp, but he was grinning.  
"Dude." He said. "We just hung out with Jake and Rich. And we were total dorks. And they didn't mind."  
"I know." Jeremy said, his face cracking to match Michael's.  
And they laughed. It was awkward, and weird, and kind of cold. But to Jeremy, nothing has ever felt more in place. He was here with Michael, and he wasn't scared at all.  
Michael wiped his face with his hand and beamed. Jeremy sighed and took his head in both hands, ruffling his hair before stepping towards the car. Almost immediately, he was tackled from behind and hands were raking though his hair. Jeremy whirled around to face the offender. "How could you?" He whined jokingly. Michael laughed and butted heads with him.  
"You did it first."  
"So?" Michael rolled his eyes.  
"Come on. Let's go." Suddenly, he took off sprinting towards the car at the other side of the parking lot.  
"Last one there has to be Wario in Mario Kart!"  
Jeremy let out a yell and raced towards the car. He lost, mostly because "You had a huge head start, what the heck!"  
As Michael went around the other side, Jeremy turned to the squip, who looked so done.  
"Guess what?"  
"What, Jeremy."  
"You get the whole backseat to yourself, now."  
"Don't patronize me."  
Jeremy climbed into the passenger seat humming to himself as Michael started the car. He glanced back and saw the squip sprawled our across all three seats. They flipped him off after they realized he was looking.  
"You still have my hoodie, you know." Michael said with a smile. Jeremy jerked forward and stared at him.  
"Shoot! Crap, I- Sorry, I'll-"  
"Dude." Michael cut him off. "It's fine. Just wash it every once in a while, ok?"  
Jeremy nodded blankly. Michael looked at him oddly.  
"Hey, are you okay? You've been acting kind of weird." Jeremy winced.  
"Sorry... It's just... It's all kind of hard. Going from one life to another. Making new friends. Dealing with other problems. It's all so... Confusing." Michael nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.  
"I... I get it. I'm dealing with all of my dependency stuff, too. Rich and Jake are helping out a lot."  
"Yeah, they're great."  
The car went silent.  
"Jeremy?"  
"Yeah?"  
"If... If something happens, tell me, ok?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well.... I don't know. But everything with the squip seems to just keep popping up and... I need you to know that you can trust me."  
Jeremy looked at the squip in the rear view mirror. He didn't trust them, yet. He just couldn't take the chance right now.  
He'd tell Michael eventually. But not now.  
"Thanks, Mich." He said quietly, smiling. Michael took one hand off of the wheel to rest it on Jeremy's arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. His heart fluttered, but he shut it out.  
"Wow." The squip called from somewhere behind him, very much ruining the moment.  
\--  
"So, what did you and Rich talk about?" The squip asked as Jeremy sat down on his bed, flopping back and stretching.  
Michael had dropped him off a couple minutes ago after the car ride had tapered off into silence. Now it was just him, a dark, quiet house, his sleeping dad, and the squip.  
"Well, he's been having nightmares too." The squip made a noise of understanding that sounded suspiciously like a phone vibration.  
"And?"  
"Well, his squip came back, too. But he got rid of it. And, well, he asked me if I'd gotten rid of you." The squip raised an eyebrow as they drifted over to sit on the edge of the bed.  
"I said no, and he freaked out. I mean, rightfully so, considering everything that happened. So I explained our.. our deal, and whatever, and why I did it, and whatever, and he calmed down."  
"You never did tell me why."  
"I- What?"  
"You never told me why you didn't try to drink the red Mountain Dew." Jeremy rubbed his forehead and stared at the ceiling.  
"Well.... You made me do a lot of really, really bad things. Things I wish I never would have even thought about. And honestly? I hate you for it." He stopped.  
"But... Despite all that, you really were just trying to help me achieve my goal. Even if it was in the exact opposite way of what I wanted." The squip gave a satisfied nod.  
"So we're finally seeing eye to eye?"  
"No. I'm not done. Still, what you made me do was inexcusable. But everyone... They forgave me. They understood. They didn't agree, but they... kind of understood. They gave me a second chance."  
He looked over.  
"Who would I be if I didn't even try giving one to you?"  
The squip was staring at him in blank silence. For a long time, neither said anything.  
"You should sleep. It's late, and your bodily functions will begin to misfire without proper rest." Jeremy glanced up in surprise. The squip was turned away so he couldn't see their face.  
"But I was gonna play Mario Kart all night." He responded jokingly. The squip didn't respond.  
He sighed and got up to go through his nightly routine. The whole time, he watched the squip out of the corner of his eye. They seemed lost in thought. Once he was done, Jeremy slid into bed and waved a hand to get their attention.  
"Squip? You still here?"  
They glanced over, face blank.  
"Uhh... Are you ok?"  
"I'm a supercomputer, Jeremy. I'm running fine."  
"You seem kind of... off."  
The squip huffed.  
"Fine. Jeez." He turned off the light, and the only thing he could see was the faintly glowing eyes of the squip.  
"Night, squip."  
Silence.  
"Night, Jeremy." And then very faintly.  
"Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do people always forget about Rich's squip? :/
> 
> Anyways @all of you people leaving nice comments !!! I love you!!
> 
> And shout out to the discord for encouraging this madness   
> and to my friend who doesn't even know Bmc for proofreading this and not thinking I'm insane


	10. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weird things start happening, and Jeremy and Rich decide to get some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh  
> hello  
> it's me i guess  
> I'm sorry for just up and vanishing. Basically, all my motivation to work on this fic disappeared, and I could barely bring myself to look at it. Despite that, I'm really proud of it, so I figured I might as well keep going.  
> just a warning, this isn't.... going to be what it once was. my writing style has changed, and im just not as good as i used to be, i'm afraid.  
> im really sorry.

Jeremy woke up extremely cold, which was, as one would imagine, a very unwelcome feeling. He rubbed his face, squinting around the dark room. It was clearly still early, which was just great. He just couldn’t sleep in, could he?  
His head felt kind of foggy and thick, like it had been stuffed with cotton. He gave it a few smacks for good measure before blinking around like an owl. The alarm clock said 6:34.  
“Good lord.” He said, wrinkling his eyes before electing to search for the source of the cold. This proved to be his sheets, which were haphazardly thrown across the floor for some reason. That was weird. He’d never remembered himself being a restless sleeper, let alone throwing stuff. Was he sleepwalking? That wouldn’t be good. If it had to do with the squip, he’d probably yell. Even when he tried to be nice, he just couldn’t catch a break.  
The wood floor was cold, and his feet curled up tightly when he stepped off of the bed. He scrunched up his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut, mouth turned into a frown. It should not have been this cold so close to summer.  
With a huff, he pushed himself off of the bed and grabbed the sheets off of the floor, throwing them onto the bed, which he had elected to make later. One hand came up to rub his face wearily, and he furrowed his brow and stretched.  
The room was silent except for his own quiet breathing, which was almost unsettling. It took him a second to realize that he’d become so accustomed to the squip’s almost constant chatter that such an atmosphere felt almost alien. ...Speaking of the devil, where were they.  
“Uh… Squip?” Jeremy said. His mouth felt weird. God, was he dreaming again? He better not be.  
There was no response. Jeremy’s frown deepened. Something didn’t feel right here. Something was as it shouldn’t be.  
He turned on the lamp, hoping to get a better view of the room. To his surprise, there was the Squip. They were curled up on the floor, chest moving slowly. They were… Asleep.  
Jeremy felt an incredulous chuckle build in his throat. In the amount of time he’d had the squip, both before and now, he’d never seen the Squip so much as grow tired, let alone sleep. But here they were, curled up with their arms around their knees and their apparent bedhead a fright.  
So that was why it was so quiet.  
Jeremy was torn between poking them awake and letting them sleep. He was dangerously curious, but he decided that the second option was probably safer overall. Who knew. Maybe if he woke them up, the squip would just explode?  
Phone in hand, he stepped around the sleeping figure quietly and made his way to the door, opening it and slipping into the hallway. From there, he tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen, biting his tongue at how cold it was. It did not need to be this cold. Come on, God, really? Was this kara for the Arby’s?  
He settled for toast, lingering by the warm toaster for a bit longer than was probably necessary. He pulled an egg out for good measure, setting his phone on the counter of the small kitchen and yawning widely. He clicked on the playlist he’d been listening to before and pressed play, blinking when a newsies song came on. He didn’t know Michael knew newsies. Well, he wasn’t complaining.  
The egg fell victim to a vicious whisking while Jeremy twirled around the kitchen, head popping with the beat of the song.  
“Look at me!” He half whispered, half sang, not wanting to wake up his dad. “I’m the king of New York!” He shoved the bowl into the microwave, grabbing a plate out of one of the wooden cabinets. It creaked loudly, and he winced. Come on, Jeremy.  
He buttered his toast and pulled the eggs out of the microwave a second before it could beep loudly enough to wake up the whole neighborhood, setting it on top of the toast and putting the egg-y bowl in the sink. Was egg-y a word? It should be.  
Pouring himself a glass of orange juice for good measure, Jeremy sat down at the counter and took a bite of his toast, lost in thought. It was weird. It was the first time in a while he’d been able to enjoy a meal without the squip floating over him and judging his food choices. The toast was warm, and he savored the fuzzy feeling it gave him more than the actual flavor. God, he should probably get a jacket or something. He’d figure that out when he finished eating.  
He scarfed down the rest of the toast and topped it off with the orange juice, ignoring the fuzzy feeling in his head that seemed content to linger. He stood up, humming as he stepped over to the sink, rinsing egg residue and crunchy bread crumbs off of his plate.  
Suddenly, his ears were filled with ringing, and his head was crystal clear. The cotton vanished, leaving him blinking in confusion. What had that been all about? He wasn’t complaining that it was gone, but it had still been weird. And why-  
A garbled cluster of words from the hallway caught his attention, and he narrowed his eyes and leaned back into the doorway. At first he saw nothing, but then there was a blue flicker at the top of the stairs. A second later, the squip came tumbling down, landing in a crumpled heap at the bottom. Jeremy snorted a little too loudly, and they looked up at him with a scowl. He squeaked and pulled his head back into the kitchen, focusing on the dishes. He heard a groan, before the squip stumbled into the kitchen.  
“What the hell.” They announced, even though it was more of a statement than a question.  
“You’re awake.” Jeremy noted for lack of anything better to say. This apparently caught the squip’s attention, and they stared at him blankely.  
“I’m always awake, Jeremy. I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” They said. Jeremy cocked his head slightly.  
“You sure about that? This morning when I woke up, you were out cold on the floor.” He laughed slightly, but the Squip was staring at him with a wide-eyed, dark expression.  
“That’s not possible.” They said flatly.  
“I thought talking hallucogenic supercomputer pills were impossible, but here we are.” Jeremy shot back, setting the dishes in the dishwasher and cleaning up his hands. He splashed himself in the face for good measure, as if he wasn’t already awake enough.  
“Jeremy.” The Squip said sharply, catching his attention. “I am trying to explain that I am not programmed to be able to… ‘Sleep’. I can deactivate, but I am not visible to you in that state. What you’re telling me is that you saw me in an asleep state.” They stared at Jeremy as if expecting him to explain, and he rolled his eyes and shrugged.  
“Yeah, that’s what I saw. I… Don’t really know what you want me to say.”  
The Squip looked troubled, but they let the topic drop. For a moment at least, before they were talking again.  
“It’s cold.” They said. Their voice sounded strange. Almost worried. Jeremy wasn’t sure how to feel about that.  
“Uhh… Yeah. It is.” He agreed awkwardly, not really sure what the point of this was. Was the Squip trying to make small talk? Because it wasn’t really working, considering the circumstances.  
“I shouldn’t be able to feel physical stimuli.” The squip said, staring at their hands, troubled. Jeremy felt a twinge of fear. Were they… Afraid? Why?  
“Maybe you feel it because I feel it. It’s freezing.” He laughed, trying to lighten the atmosphere. The Squip shook their head as if clearing their thoughts, straightening up and resuming that indifferent look Jeremy had become so used to. Jeremy almost relaxed at the sight of it. God, he really was going insane. He hoped that wasn’t an unlisted side-effect, because that would be bad. Probably.  
“Well, today’s Sunday. You said you would study for exams.” The squip said, lip twitching, effectively breaking him out of his thoughts. Jeremy cringed.  
“Look, maybe I can-”  
“No.” The Squip cut him off sharply. “Your exams are next week. You cannot put this off any more.”  
Jeremy decided for the more eloquent reply of, “Watch me.” The Squip rolled their eyes and rubbed their face with one hand.  
“You’re going to fail your exams.” They said, eyes narrowed. Jeremy shrugged, watching them curiously as he made his way to the coat rack in the hallway.  
“What’s it to you? I thought you didn’t care?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“I don’t.” The Squip spat quickly, looking like a grumpy child. Jeremy grinned smugly.  
In his pocket, his phone vibrated with a hum. He pulled it out.  
7:02 [Rich] yo what’s up  
7:02 [Rich] i know its early but  
7:02 [Rich] I was thinking if you’d be down we could uh  
7:03 [Rich] go hunt down the dude at the mall and maybe get some answers about what’s going on yknow  
7:03 [Rich] with the spooky dreams and shit  
7:03 [Rich] if it doesn’t bother you  
Jeremy stopped to think, forehead creased. He blew a curly strand of hair out of his face and glanced at the Squip, who was pretending to not be interested in whatever he was reading.  
7:05 [Jeremy] sure  
7:05 [Jeremy] how are we getting there?  
[Rich is typing…]  
7:06 [Rich] idk  
7:06 [Rich] uber?  
Jeremy cringed. He knew it made sense, but driving with uber always felt awkward. Plus, he was paranoid that he’d get kidnapped or something.  
7:07 [Jeremy] idk man i dont love uber  
7:07 [Rich] thats fair  
7:07 [Rich] can you take your dads car?  
Jeremy thought back on the last time he’d done that.  
7:08 [Jeremy] probably not  
7:08 [Rich] bus?  
That could work. He had a bus card somewhere.  
7:09 [Jeremy] sure  
7:09 [Rich] cool  
7:09 [Rich] see you in front of Hot Topic at 8?  
7:09 [Rich] or is that too early  
7:10 [Jeremy] 8 works  
7:10 [Jeremy] are u sure we’re not going to the mall so you can drag me into hot topic?  
7:11 [Rich] fuck u  
Jeremy grinned and turned his phone off, stretching and heading towards the stairs. He could take the 7:30 bus in that direction and walk from the closest stop. He had to get ready quickly, though.  
Humming, he trotted up the stairs. The squip followed him like a cat trying to hide its curiosity, opting to walk up the steps instead of floating over them like they usually did. He shrugged it off. It wasn’t a big deal.  
The room felt warmer than when he’d left it, which made him scowl in mock annoyance. Of course it would heat up as soon as he left. Sounded about right.  
The room itself was small, with blue walls and ceiling. Younger Jeremy had loved blue. He still did, but not as openly and goofily younger Jeremy did. He thought back on when he’d gotten it painted. He’d been begging his mom for weeks, and…  
The thought turned sour and he coughed to clear his head, turning his focus off of the walls. God, he was such a mess. He couldn’t even think about a stupid color without going off his rocker and probably crying or something.  
With a sigh, he bit his lip and just stood there for a minute and breathed, before he got to the task at hand.  
He pulled jeans and a tee shirt out of his dresser, hunting for socks and a fresh pair of boxers while he was at it. He glanced at the crumpled fabric in his hand for a moment and froze.  
It was the Eminem tee-shirt. He recognized it too clearly.  
Memories crashed into him. Lying, being someone he wasn’t. Playing with people’s feelings like dolls for his own ambition. Hurting people. Hurting Michael.  
“Wow, did Eminem leave that much of an impression on you?” The Squip scoffed behind him. He didn’t move, still staring at the shirt.  
“...Jeremy?” The Squip crossed into his peripheral vision, and for a split second, he saw the cold eyes of a glitchy keanu reeves doppelganger. He straightened up almost subconsciously, blinking, before he flinched and could move again. He dropped the shirt into the hamper darkly. Even if it was clean, he didn’t want to look at it.  
Having had enough of dark flashbacks for the day already, Jeremy wished he could just shut his brain off. He turned away from the Squip, who blinked at him in clear confusion. Of course they wouldn’t understand. He finally found a matching- well, not actually matching, but close enough -pair of socks and went into the bathroom, shooing the Squip out of the way.  
He changed quickly, but stopped in front of the mirror.  
A boy with tangled brown hair, too many freckles, a long nose, chapped lips, dull blue eyes, and gross acne stared back.  
He brought one hand up to brush his face, before turning away and leaving. Mirror Jeremy did the same thing. Weird.  
“Did you take long enough?” The Squip asked dryly when he came out of the bathroom. He raised his eyebrows and nodded, not sure if his throat would hold up at the moment. He’d have to compose himself on the bus. He’d done it before. It wasn’t hard.  
The Squip stared at him for a moment, saying nothing. Jeremy ignored them and grabbed his wallet off of his dresser, shoving it in the pocket of his jeans after checking that his bus card was in fact in it.  
“Wait-” The Squip asked, eyes narrowed. “Where are you going?”  
“To get answers.” Jeremy responded vaguely, scribbling a note on the corner of a piece of old schoolwork, which he ripped off and took with him to leave on the counter for his dad.  
“Thank you for being vague.” The Squip responded, voice drenched in annoyance. Jeremy didn’t even have to turn to know what their face looked like.  
“You’ll see.” He said, taking a shuddery breath. Did he really want to do this?  
It didn’t matter if he wanted to. If he didn’t get some answers soon, he was going to scream. It was more of a need.  
He steeled himself as he walked down the stairs, leaving the note on the counter in plain sight. As he closed the front door, the cold blasted him in the face. He debated going back inside for a jacket, but contented to freeze. He didn’t mind all that much.  
“You’re being ridiculous.” The Squip said behind him. Jeremy turned to find them struggling their way through the front door, a bright mess of glitching pixels and imagery. It almost reminded him of a firework.  
“Holy shit.” He said, wide-eyed. “Are… You okay?”  
The Squip shot him a deadpan look and struggled their way out of the door, stumbling down to where he was. They turned to stare daggers at the offending doors.  
“Where you… Stuck?” Jeremy asked, eyes narrowed in disbelief.  
“I appear to be having some difficulty concerning the program that allows me to appear as if I am interacting with your physical environment.”  
“So…” Jeremy responded. “You’re saying that you’re glitching and that’s why you got stuck in the door.”  
“I don’t believe ‘stuck’ is the correct term for this scenario.” The Squip said, but they didn’t deny his statement.  
Well, that was another thing to ask the guy at the mall.  
He checked his phone, which said 7:25. He blinked for a second, before it hit him.  
“Shit!” He yelled, startling the Squip as he jammed his phone into his pocket and took off at a dead sprint down the sidewalk. He was going to miss the damn bus!  
Fortunately for him, God decided at that moment to stop screwing with him and gave him a stroke of luck. He made it, panting and out of breath, right as the bus doors were about to close. The driver looked annoyed, but let him on.  
Jeremy collapsed into one of the seats close to the front, smearing his hair out of his face. His lungs burned from his several minute sprint, but he was proud of himself for making it. It had dashed the cloud over his head a bit, at least.  
The Squip settled in the aisle seat, eyes narrowed.  
“Are you going to inform me of your destination, or are you going to sit here all smug and sweaty?” They asked, eyebrows raised. Jeremy shrugged with a smile, crossing his hands behind his back and leaning against the headrest. The Squip wrinkled their nose and swatted at him in annoyance.  
Their hand smacked into Jeremy’s chest with a light thump, crackling and glitching sharply. Jeremy shoved it away absentmindedly, attention focused on the buildings passing by out the window. He rubbed the zpot where the Squip had hit him, glancing over with a scowl.  
The Squip was staring, eyes wide and brows creased, at their hands and then at Jeremy. He blinked back at them, confused.  
“Uh, you… Okay?” He asked carefully. The Squip blinked at him before slowly reaching out one hand towards his arm. Jeremy froze, eyes narrowed. “What are you-”  
The Squip poked his arm and recoiled like they’d been burned, staring at the finger like it was shooting sparks. In a way, it was. It was glitchy, like it was made of TV static and sparks.  
Realization hit Jeremy like a punch to the face and he inhaled sharply, scooting himself backwards and away from the Squip. They could touch him. How could they- Wh-  
“What the hell? How did- Were you always able to-” He started to say, before he was cut off.  
“No.” The Squip said flatly. “This… This is not possible. I shouldn’t be able to…”  
Jeremy had never seen the Squip at a loss for words, but they appeared to be at one now. They clutched their head, tongue tripping over what to say.  
“What the hell.” was what they finally settled on. Jeremy couldn’t have agreed more.  
“O-ok!” Jeremy interrupted, laughing nervously. “So you can, uh, touch stuff now! That’s… Normal, right?”  
The Squip’s expression told him otherwise.  
“The mall guy has a shit ton of explaining to do.” Jeremy hissed, rubbing his hair. The Squip, who had been poking the seat on front of them carefully, perked up.  
“Aha!” They laughed, pointing an accusatory finger at a startled Jeremy.. “That’s where you’re going!.”  
Jeremy rolled his eyes and nodded, amused that that was what the Squip was concerned about at the moment. His head was spinning with knowledge of the sudden development, but he pushed it away and squeezed his eyes shut. He could worry about this… Literally any other time. He didn’t have the strength to deal with it at the moment.  
“Stop poking the goddamn seat.” He said. The Squip made no move to stop, fascinated with its sudden corporeality. Jeremy rolled his eyes and stared at the window, drowning his thoughts in a fast moving street and cloud sky.

\----

When they finally got to the mall, Jeremy had somewhat of a headache, but it was a manageable one. He decided to ignore it, like he did with most of his problems.  
He strolled in the double doors. The mall was crowded, as always, and Jeremy blinked at the sudden influx of color and noise. All around him, people were walking, talking, and laughing. The expansive space of the mall was just overflowing with life.  
Jeremy realized he was just standing there like an idiot and forced his legs to move, almost tripping in the process. He felt awkward, like he shouldn’t have been there. Where was the stupid Hot Topic, anyways. He couldn’t remember to save his life.  
“Aren’t you going to the-” The Squip started, but he cut them off.  
“Hot Topic. To meet Rich.” Jeremy said hastily. Then, cursing himself, he bit his lip.  
“Do you- Uh, know where it… Is?”  
The Squip stared at him before getting that cocky grin Jeremy remembered oh so well.  
“Are you requesting my assistance?” They asked, leaning over in somewhat bow so that they were eye level with him. Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Forget I asked.” He spat. He should have expected that this would happen.  
“It’s to your left, a little while down on the right side.” The Squip said. Jeremy turned to look at them, and they shrugged.  
“But,” Their expression darkened. “Be warned. The seller might not have the information you’re looking for.”  
“I know.” Jeremy muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just need to know.”  
The Squip nodded silently before stepping in front of him, beckoning and disappearing into the crowd. Jeremy squeaked before hurrying after them.  
Sure enough, Rich was waiting for him where the Squip said the Hot Topic would be. Jeremy was almost impressed that the Squip hadn’t fed him some bullshit just to watch him run around the mall in confusion for an hour.  
“Jeremy!” Rich called, waving, and Jeremy quickly trotted over.  
“Sorry I’m late.” He mumbled. “I, uh, forgot where the Hot Topic was.” Rich smirked and socked him in the shoulder.  
“Oh, come on, tallass. I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve been here.” His lisp was evident, but for once, he didn’t seem to mind. Jeremy raised an eyebrow.  
“I’m not saying you’re wrong, but it’s been a while.” He said. Rich’s eyes lit up.  
“I knew it!” He yelled. “You fucking emo!”  
“Rich!” Jeremy hissed, turning around. “There are children here!” Rich only grinned.  
“Why’d you stop going?” He asked. Jeremy rolled his eyes.  
“Well, the Squip would have up and died if I was seen in there.” Jeremy said. He heard an annoyed sigh behind him. At the word, Rich straightened up.  
“Speaking of…” He said. “Is your squip… Here?”  
Jeremy hesitated, and then nodded, pointing to where the Squip was standing. They waved, despite knowing perfectly well that Rich couldn’t see them.  
“They said hi. I actually have some new questions concerning, uh… Some stuff.” Jeremy said, tapping his feet. Rich’s eyes narrowed.  
“What stuff?”  
“Well, uh… Rich, did your Squip ever… Touch you?”  
“You mean like zapping me? Because-”  
“No, no. Like… Actual physical contact. Could you like… Poke them?” Rich’s face went blank.  
“No, I’d always just go right through it. Jeremy, can you-”  
“It just happened.” Jeremy said quickly. “I- I was messing with them on the bus, and they, like, swatted at me like they usually do, but uh… This time, it didn’t… Go through me. I actually felt it.” Rich’s eyes went wide.  
“Wait, are you serious? Holy shit, that’s…” He stopped for a second, before looking at Jeremy. “Are you sure you’re safe? If it can touch you, then- What if…”  
“I’m fine.” Jeremy promised. “I- I think it’s going well, considering… Y’know.”  
Rich looked unconvinced, but he sighed.  
“I trust you man, just… Be careful. Those things, they’re… They’re dangerous.”  
“I know.” Jeremy said, turning to look at the Squip, who was fiddling with their sleeve. They didn’t appear threatening, but he guessed that was because they were just as confused as he was at the moment.  
“Well, uh. You ready?” Jeremy asked. Rich nodded.  
“Well, let’s get this over with.” He said.  
They set off towards the Payless, both not quite sure if they really were ready at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for a kind of bland chapter and ooc characters. I just can't seem to remember how to write them like I did. I'll try my best though, and hopefully I won't just disappear again.  
> Once again, I am so sorry.


	11. Oddities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy and Rich ask some questions, but only end up with more as things start to get stranger.  
> The best they can do is just ride it out.  
> (Warning for implied homophobia/homophobic-based bullying)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: AO3 swallowed my indents again. Sorry guys
> 
> y'all I am crying?? I got so many positive and supportive comments on the last chapter and I know I don't respond often but GOD it feels so good to know that you all enjoy my works  
> It makes me want to continue this so much, which is great bc I love to write  
> Anyways love y'all enjoy the chapter

The Payless was just like Jeremy remembered it being on that fateful day months ago, when he'd all but dragged a mostly uninterested but nonetheless supportive Michael in. Just to check, he'd said.  
His chest twisted, and he felt sick. God, he'd been so naïve. What good could had possibly come of that? What had he been thinking?  
The Payless didn't seem like it housed something so utterly vile. It was crisp and clean, painted white and orange with patterned carpets. Shelves were arranged in neat lines, stocked with orange cardboard boxes hopefully containing shoes. Jeremy shivered, choking down the bile in his throat. God, something so normal shouldn't get such a visceral reaction. He was pitiful.  
The store itself hadn’t been open for long when they arrived, but even from outside, they could see him. Slouching against the back wall of the shop and fiddling with his shades was the man who’d sold them the squips. He still looked like someone ripped out of Breaking Bad.  
“There’s the edgy fuck.” Rich said, his voice low. He looked towards Jeremy, who nodded in confirmation.  
“God, can he make himself look any more suspicious?” Rich shook his head incredulously, before mocking in a higher voice, “Of course not, officer. Why would I have drugs? I just wear this edgy ass coat and sunglasses and never look anyone in the eye for funsies!”  
Jeremy laughed and ran a hand through his hair. Even the Squip chuckled behind him.  
“Maybe he’s lost.” He said, earning Rich’s attention. “He’s supposed to be working at Hot Topic, but he doesn’t know he’s in the wrong store.”  
Rich snickered. “Sounds about right. Let’s go chat with him, shall we?” He jokingly offered Jeremy his arm, who pressed the back of his hand to his forehead in a mock swoon. The mood considerably lightened, the two entered the store.  
Rich was right. Even if Jeremy understood what the mysterious seller was going for with the black 'low-profile' outfit, it really did look out of place in the brightly lit shoe shop. If anything, he attracted more attention.  
The man looked up as they stopped in front of him, eyebrows raised.  
“What do you ne- Oh. It’s you two.” His mouth turned into a frown, but his eyes weren’t visible behind his sunglasses. This time, he had on a hat, which was black like the rest of his outfit. Jeremy was struck by how much he looked like Mr. Reyes. Except if Mr. Reyes had gone through an emo phase he’d never quite grown out of.  
Actually, scratch that. That more or less summed up Mr. Reyes. He’d have to describe the man as Mr. Reyes, but with a more cleanly shaven brown beard and a strikingly ‘I promise I am not doing anything illegal’ fashion taste.  
“I told you, no refunds.” He said less than kindly. Rich shot Jeremy a look and raised his eyebrows.  
“We know. We’re here to ask you some questions.”  
The man rolled his eyes. Or at least Jeremy thought he did. It was hard to tell.  
“If you’re going to the try and out me to the feds, don’t bother. This isn’t my first rodeo.” Rich opened his mouth to ask something, probably what the hell that meant, but Jeremy cut him off.  
“We’re not, uh, here to rat you out. I- I swear. But… I- We have some questions. About the squip.”  
The man tilted his head slightly, which Jeremy took as an invitation to continue.  
“Well, uh, if you were to… Shut a squip off- hypothetically, of course, no worries- what would happen?”  
“Smooth.” The Squip said from behind him. Rich said nothing, but he looked like he was going to combust. The man thought for a moment, before speaking.  
“Hell if I know. I’m only the delivery man. I don’t even have one.”  
Jeremy should have seen that coming. He could almost see the Squip’s disappointed but smug ‘I told you so’ expression. He almost turned to leave on the spot, but Rich stopped him with one arm across his chest.  
“Listen, you edgy jackass. We didn't come all the way here for an 'I don't know'", Rich snarled, looking more like a pissed off bear or something than a person.  
“Jesus Christ, calm your ass,” The man huffed, slouching further against the wall. This only seemed to infuriate Rich further, but Jeremy put one hand on his shoulder and leaned down.  
“If you kill him, we won’t get anything out of him.” He whispered. Rich scowled, but relented.  
‘Okay, then. Can you tell us what you do know?” He asked. The man opened his mouth, but he cut him off quickly. “That’s not the whole ‘it’s from Japan’ spiel. I’ve heard that enough.”  
The man crossed his arms.  
“Look, man. The company that makes this shit is secretive as all hell. Plus, I can’t understand half the shit on the warning labels because it’s in japanese.”  
“Are you fucking serious?” Rich asked. “You couldn’t even put it through google translate?” The man shrugged.  
“Can we see them? The warning labels?” Jeremy asked. Rich looked at him curiously. The man hummed, but nodded.  
“I don’t see why not. Give me a second.” He disappeared into the back room. Rich turned on him.  
“Dude, what? You- You don’t speak Japanese, right?” Jeremy nodded, and turned to the Squip, who was watching him in interest.  
“Hey, Cortana, can you, uh, read whatever he brings out for us?” He asked. The Squip gave him a smug grin, and Jeremy was almost disappointed that ‘Cortana’ didn't get the rise out of them that it usually did.  
“See, I told you you’d need me.” They said patronizing.  
“I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you.” Jeremy responded, wrinkling his nose and turning to Rich.  
“Luckily, we have Siri on our side, who is more than happy to help.” The second part was said louder than necessary. The Squip rolled their eyes.  
“Your Squip? Why would they help?” Rich asked, eyes narrowed at the wall where he thought the Squip was standing. The Squip was on the complete other side of the room, but they got the message.  
“Well, they want answers as much as I do, I guess.” Jeremy said, looking at the ground.  
“Wait-” Rich said. “Your Squip… Doesn’t know what’s happening either?” Jeremy shook his head.  
“Huh.” Rich said. “That seems… Not good.”  
“You’re telling me.” Jeremy muttered.  
The man returned from the back of the store, carrying some sort of crumpled paper pamphlet in his hands. He handed it over to Jeremy, looking unimpressed.  
“Here it is. You’re lucky I’m going through all of this trouble for you.” He said. Jeremy opened the pamphlet and, as the man said, was greeted by an ungodly amount of japanese fine print. He winced and glanced over his shoulder at the Squip.  
They caught his eye and strolled over, leaning over his shoulder to read the pamphlet. This was easy, seeing as they were so damn tall.  
Seconds ticked by, but the Squip wasn’t saying anything.  
“Well? Can you read it?” Jeremy asked, worried that they actually couldn’t and that he looked like an idiot. The Squip, however, gave him a smug look.  
“I am reading it.”  
Jeremy blinked, before realization hit him and he dragged one hand down his face.  
“I meant out loud, smartass.”  
“You really should be more clear when you’re giving instructions, Jeremy,” The Squip said with a tsk, before clearing their throat.  
“Most of this is legal gibberish, which I don’t care about and presume you don’t, so I’m going to skip it.” They paused, blue eyes flickering over the pages, before their eyebrows dropped and they continued speaking.  
“Usage warning: some models have been shown to exhibit an array of errors upon deactivation. To avoid this, it is recommended that deactivation by Mountain Dew be avoided.”  
Jeremy stared, waiting for more. When the Squip remained silent, he blurted, “That- That’s so vague! That can’t be it!”  
“I’m looking. Quiet.” The Squip responded, eyes narrowed as they scrutinized the paper. “Flip the page.”  
Jeremy did as they instructed, ignoring the pang of annoyance that came with doing so. The Squip hummed, and Jeremy flinched as one glitchy hand started tapping absentmindedly on his shoulder. It felt... impossibly strange. He could feel their hand, but at the same time he couldn’t. It also had a sort of charge to it, making his skin buzz like a static shock. He shrugged their hand off.  
“Anything else?” He asked. All he got in response was a quiet hum.  
Finally, the Squip leaned back. Jeremy turned to look at them, but they shook their head.  
“That- That’s it?” He questioned desperately. The Squip nodded. Jeremy deflated, turning back to Rich and the confused seller.  
“What was that all about?” The man asked, his eyebrows appearing over the rim of his sunglasses and making him look ridiculous.  
“I, uh, asked my Squip to read it.” This earned the man’s attention.  
“Well, then, what did it say?”  
“It’s, um, mostly legal stuff. But it also said that sometimes if you shut them off they… Glitch out, I guess. That was it.” The disappointment on his face was clear, and Rich slumped. The man made a ‘hmph’ noise. “Well, can’t say I didn’t warn you. Is that all you need?”  
“I guess. Thanks. For helping.” Jeremy said. He went to hand over the pamphlet, but stopped. Before the man could react, he pulled out his phone and took pictures of all the pages. The man didn’t look happy about it, but he didn’t stop him.  
“Don’t mention it. You kids need anything else while I’m here wasting daylight?”  
“Yeah, one last thing.” Rich said suddenly. “You might want to check what store you’re in. That outfit belongs in Hot Topic.” With that, he turned on his heel and stalked off. Jeremy stifled a snicker and jogged after him.  
They walked until the store was out of sight and stopped at a bench near the back. Jeremy watched the groups of people walk by, focusing himself on the stark differences from one person to the next to distract himself from his disappointment.  
“Well, that was useless.” Rich announced, dropping his head into his hands. Jeremy winced.  
“I-I mean…” He started. “We learned that weird shit happens when you get rid of squips.”  
“Holy shit! I had no idea!” Rich said sarcastically, doing jazz hands. “It’s not like my squip has turned into a goddamn anime villain and is currently haunting my dreams!” He flopped backwards over the back of the bench, groaning.  
“This is all bullshit. Fuck Squips.”  
“Agreed.” Jeremy responded, earning an indignant squawk from his Squip, who was leaning against the wall with a betrayed expression. They slapped one hand to their chest in a mock ‘how could you’ gesture, and Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh.  
“Well... What now?” He asked Rich once he’d settled down. This earned him a loose shrug, the hood of Rich’s grey hoodie falling awkwardly across his shoulders.  
“What do normal, non-possessed-by-evil-computer kids do at the mall?” Jeremy asked.  
“Rob people?” Rich responded.  
“No.”  
Rich sighed. Jeremy mulled over choices in his head. They didn't get any answers at the Payless, but they could find other things to do at the mall. Jeremy realized with a blush that he'd never really hung out at the mall with people other than Michael, and even that had been infrequent. Now, here he was, searching for answers about his mind-controlling but occasionally helpful brain-based supercomputer's glitches alongside his former bully and tormenter.  
God, the whole thing was just bizarre.  
Rich started humming before perking up quickly, eyes wide and sparkling.  
“Wanna go to Hot Topic?” He asked a little too excitedly. Jeremy gave him a surprised look. Was.. He serious?  
“Come on, Tallass. We’re going to the Emo Kingdom.” He hopped up, extending a hand. Jeremy rolled his eyes and took it, and Rich yanked him to his feet with more stength than anyone that size should havev been capable of.  
“Can we… Not pull my arm out of its socket?” Jeremy winced as they picked their way through the crowds, rubbing his shoulder. Rich winced awkwardly.  
“Sorry," he mumbled. Jeremy shrugged. "Don't worry about it."  
They stopped in front of the Hot Topic, its graffitied brick-wall exterior contrasting sharply with the rest of the relatively clean mall.  
“Behold,” Rich whispered reverently. “The Hall of the Emos.”  
“You’re ridiculous.” Jeremy said, rolling his eyes. Rich grinned and all but dragged him inside. “Come on, I want to see what ridiculous Rick and Morty shit they’ve got.” He said. Suddenly, he stopped around to Jeremy.  
“Where’s your Squip?” He whispered. Jeremy was mistrustful of whatever Rich was planning, but pointed to where the Squip was staring at a shirt displaying a winking anime girl with a mixture of concern and disgust.  
“Of course they found the fucking anime.” Rich muttered, before shouting, “Yo! Squip! Do you watch Rick and Morty?”  
Jeremy choked as the Squip turned around, clearly surprised that Rich was addressing them directly. “Well,” They said slowly like a deer caught in the headlights. “No, I’ve never taken the time to watch ‘Rick and Morty’.”  
“They said no.” Jeremy managed to say without laughing. A few other people in the store were giving them weird looks, but it was Hot Topic. This wasn't by any stretch of the imagination the weirdest thing that had happened in these walls. Rich’s eyes lit up like a flashlight, and Jeremy realized what was about to happen a split second before it did.  
“That’s understandable,” He said, before clearing his throat and continuing. “To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics, most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer’s head. There’s also Rick’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation-”  
“Do you have that whole thing memorized?” Jeremy shrieked, almost teary-eyed with laughter. Rich nodded and tried to continue, but couldn’t through his snickering. The Squip’s surprised expression turned to one of annoyance.  
“I believe something is going on here.” They said flatly. Jeremy and Rich howled with laughter for a good 5 minutes before they calmed down to talk enough.  
“Come on, let’s see what horrific shit they have here today.” Rich said, hurrying towards the shirt section. Such horrific shit proved to be some horrifically off-model Five Nights at Freddy’s merchandise, such as a brutally cheap chica hat that Rich sported like a crown, as well as a cross-meme abomination combining the Dat Boi and Dark Kermit memes into one horrific T-Shirt.  
Jeremy had pretended to shed a single tear when he caught Rich staring at the T-Shirt with hatred.  
“My Squip was Dark Kermit.” He said when he caught Jeremy staring, walking off to the other end of the store. Jeremy stammered.  
“Your Squip was fucking wha- Rich Goranski, get over here! You- You can't just drop a bombshell like that on someone and run away!”  
“At least it wasn’t Keanu Reeves, you fucking weeb.” Rich snorted in response. Jeremy grinned.  
“One of the options it offered was, and I quote, ‘sexy anime female’.” He added, probably digging his own grave, but whatever. Rich spun around at the speed of light, eyes wide.  
“Oh my god- Holy shit, are you serious?” He whispered. Jeremy nodded quickly, grinning. “Oh my god, is that why they were looking at the anime? Where are they now?”  
Jeremy looked around the room, eyes narrowed. He found the Squip eyeing a shirt that read ‘I’m the reason daddy learned how to pull out’ with what was most likely concern for the human race and trace amounts of primal fear.  
“By the pull out shirt.” He said, the words tasting sour. Rich barked out a laugh and headed over, Jeremy trailing behind him.  
“I can’t believe your Squip is a fucking weaboo.” Rich shook his head in awe.  
“I can’t believe you never told me that your squip was goddamn Dark Kermit!” Jeremy shot back. “Seriously!”  
Jeremy waved at the Squip as they neared, and they looked up.  
“I’m beginning to develop a morbid fear of the human race,” They said, face twisted into fearful disgust. Jeremy snickered.  
“Me and you both.” He agreed.  
“Were you seriously going to be a fucking anime girl?” Rich cut in, staring at where he thought the Squip was. The Squip turned to Jeremy with an accusatory look, but their expression quickly changed into a more cocky one. Jeremy knew that look.  
“My appearance is tailored to what the host would trust or... enjoy being around.” They said, mouth twitching into a smirk.  
Jeremy, who couldn’t find anything to respond to that with, settled for flipping them off.  
“What’d they say?” Rich asked excitedly.  
“Nothing! They just, uh, flipped me off.” Jeremy said hastily. A second later, a ‘daddy learned to pull out’ shirt hit him square in the face.  
Jeremy stood there for a minute, frozen, as his brain slowly processed what had just happened like a lagging webpage. He stared at the shirt, and then at the Squip, who looked just as surprised.  
“You- How did you-” He stammered. They shrugged, eyes still wide but face showing no other signs of emotion.  
Rich’s eyebrows dropped, and he turned to watch Jeremy carefully.  
“Wait.” He said. “Who… Threw that?”  
“Squip.” Jeremy responded. "...Somehow."  
“Wait, your Squip... How?"  
“I- I told you, I don't know. They could just... Touch me all of a sudden, and now apparently throw stuff. Like shirts. At me." The last part of this was directed rather clearly at the Squip, who pretended not to hear.  
“That’s… Wow." He paused, gears turning. "Wait, if they can move stuff, but I can’t see them… Can- Can you throw something at them? See if they catch it.”  
Jeremy crinkled his brow in confusion, but threw the shirt back at the Squip, who caught it without even looking at him. As soon as their hand made contact with the fabric, it started crackling and flickering like it had before.  
Rich’s jaw went slack. “Holy Shit,” He whispered.  
“What?” Jeremy asked, wondering what Rich was seeing.  
“The shirt- I- All I can see is like... A weird glitchy hand, I guess? It... It's made of like TV static and it looks all floaty and transparent.” Rich said slowly, trying to describe something that Jeremy could only imagine. It wasn't really working, but Jeremy couldn't blame him.  
The Squip caught them staring and put the shirt up hastily.  
"Squip," Jeremy said, catching their attention. "When... When you touch stuff, like the shirt, Rich can, uh, see... Your hand. Or something like it."  
They visibly straightened up, and Jeremy swore they got paler, which looked weird considering their skin was sort of a weird grey-ish color. When they crossed to him, they almost looked afraid.  
"I- I'm sorry?"  
"Pick something up. Or, well, try." Jeremy said, wondering if they actually would.  
The Squip hesitated, but picked up an iron-on patch from a shelf on the wall. Rich flinched and took a step back.  
"There it is again," He said. The Squip stared at their hand for a long time, before jerking out of their stupor and shoving the patch back into its place.  
"Odd," They said a little too quickly. Jeremy almost wanted to ask them if they were okay, but bit his lip.  
The Squip walked to the center of the store, and Jeremy noted that they were very careful not to touch anything.  
"Well, uh, anyways," He said, turning back to Rich. "Are you gonna buy anything, or...?"  
Rich stared at him for a moment as if he wanted to say something, but changed his expression and shook his head sadly.  
"They don't have any Panic! at the D stuff." He said mournfully. Jeremy bit back a cough.  
"Did- Did you just say 'Panic at the D'?" Jeremy said slowly, trying to keep a straight face.  
Rich nodded, confused.  
"Yes...? You haven't heard of Panic! at the Disco?" Jeremy made his decision to seal his coffin and spoke.  
"I have heard of Panic! at the Disco, but Panic at the D isn't a band. It's what you do when you see Jake."  
Rich's face turned from confusion to shock and then very quickly through all seven stages of grief, before landing on embarrassed anger. It reminded Jeremy of a Twister spinner, but with emotions instead of colors.  
"Jeremiah Heere!" He screeched. "I'm gonna kill you!" Jeremy took the opportunity to sprint out of the store, grinning over his shoulder as a royally pissed Rich followed. He squeaked when he realized that, to his disdain, Rich was gaining on him.  
Swerving carefully around the other mall-goers and shoppers, Jeremy twisted and zig-zagged his way to the automatic doors, bursting into the parking lot. Rich was on top of him almost immediately, punching him in the back and accompanying each hit with its own special, never-before-concocted string of curses.  
Jeremy took them all, wincing but grinning widely. Behind Rich, he noticed that the Squip looked uncomfortable, and one hand reached down to gingerly rub their side. Jeremy wondered for a split second if they could feel his physical pain. It wasn't unimaginable.  
Nothing really was anymore.  
He decided to focus on grabbing Rich's wrists and wrestling him off of him, quite the task considering his weak noodle arms. He somehow accomplished it, probably because at some point during the yelling Rich had relented, and they stood there breathing heavily for a moment.  
"I hate you." Rich growled when he had his breath back, even though Jeremy couldn't trace any real malice behind the statement. He almost responded with 'me too', but settled for "Nice." Because that was how conversations went. Heck yeah.  
For a moment, all was peaceful in the mall parking lot. Jeremy should have known it wouldn't last.  
Rich opened his mouth to say something when he was sharply interrupted.  
"Hey! Pyromaniac!" A familiar voice called from across the parking lot. Rich jerked sharply and froze, his face contorted in anger and fear. He knew that voice, and Jeremy did too.  
Dustin Kropp strolled over to them, decked out in the usual varsity jacket and ragged ponytail. His dark eyes looked hard and cold, and his mouth was curled into a menacing grin. He looked far older than any high schooler should, and Jeremy wondered if he'd been held back.  
"You didn't tell me you were stopping by! How's it going? Burned anything else down lately?" He grabbed Rich's arm, purposely right where the bandages would be under the hoodie. Rich's face contorted in poorly masked agony, and a dull hiss dropped out of his clenched teeth.  
"Leave him alone, Dustin," Jeremy said before he could chicken out and stop himself. Dustin's eyes turned on him, and he suddenly felt very, very small.  
"Beanpole! Fancy seeing you here!" He grinned mockingly. His teeth made him look like a hillbilly. No wonder his breath could probably kill a small animal.  
"You two on a date?" He took a step towards Jeremy, who flinched. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Squip watching the scene. Their face was unreadable.  
"Nope. Wouldn't expect you to know what a date looks like, anyways." Rich spat behind Dustin. Jeremy's eyes went wide in fear as Dustin spun on his heel and stalked towards Rich like a wolf about to strike.  
"I'm sorry, would you like to repeat that?" He snarled.  
"Of course, my bad. I probably used too many big words for you." Rich said, giving him a bitter, dry grin.  
Dustin shook there for a moment, and in an instant, drew back and swung.  
There was a sickening noise, and Rich dropped to the ground like a wet doll.  
"Rich!" Jeremy yelled, eyes wide. Before he knew what he was doing, he was between his limp friend and Dustin.  
"F-Fuck off." He said, forcing his squeaky voice as low as it would go to maybe appear more threatening. It clearly did absolutely nothing, and Dustin laughed.  
"Standing up for your boyfriend, huh?" He asked. Jeremy's fists balled up.  
Dustin was bigger and stronger than him. If he threw the first punch, Dustin would have an excuse to beat the shit out of him, and he wouldn't stand a chance. However, he didn't really have any other options.  
"What's it to you? Jealous?" He asked, probably only confirming whatever rumor Dustin would spread, but it didn't matter for now.  
"Of what? You?" Dustin said, dumbfounded. The way he said 'you' made Jeremy feel like he had with the Squip; small, pitiful, and useless.  
But he Squip had been wrong.  
"I told you to fuck off," he repeatedly, hopefully more bravely than he felt.  
"Too bad," Dustin crooned, before he swung his hand in a lightning-fast arc towards Jeremy's face.  
A split second later, Jeremy was sprawled out on the ground. His winded lungs struggled to open like a crushed bag, the air knocked out of them by him less-than-elegantly smashing onto the concrete. His face, however was absolutely fine.  
The punch had never landed.  
Dazed, he picked himself up off of the asphalt. His shirt was scrunched up, as if someone had pulled him backwards by the collar. His hands stung from where they'd met the ground, but he could hardly feel them amidst his confusion. He let himself sit there for a moment, before trying to figure out what had happened. Had Rich grabbed him? Had-  
He glanced up and went very still.  
The Squip was standing in front of him, facing Dustin. Their whole body was glitching madly in seizure-inducing patterns, like a TV switched to an empty channel. Stray pixels and fragments cracked and flew off of them, fading into thin air. Their back was to him, so he couldn't see their face, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.  
Had... the Squip saved him?  
It seemed impossibly ridiculous, but who else could it be?  
"I'm sorry, you don't seem to be aware of what the phrase 'fuck off' entails." The Squip was saying with a malice Jeremy hadn't heard since the play. He shivered. Why was the Squip talking? It wasn't like Dustin could see or hear them.  
To his shock, Dustin could in fact hear them quite well, actually, and from his current facial expression, see them as well.  
"What the fuck...?" Dustin whispered, eyes wide. He was shaking like a leaf, and despite his hatred for him, Jeremy couldn't blame him. He wasn't quite sure what Dustin was seeing, but it was probably going to be pretty scarring.  
"Would you like me to teach you?" The Squip took a step forward, cracking their knuckles loudly. Sparks flew from them and scattered on the floor, and Jeremy guessed that Dustin was probably on the verge of pissing himself.  
The teen drew back an arm, and Jeremy wondered for a split second if he was actually going to fight them, but he turned tail and sprinted away like his life depended on it. Jeremy watched him gun it down the parking lot towards the wall until he disappeared behind some cars, eyes wide.  
The Squip watched him go, shoulders slumping. A few seconds that felt like hours passed in dead silence as Jeremy watched the static and patterns fade, bringing them back to their familiar, only slightly less terrifying self.  
When they were back to normal, they turned.  
For a split second, their face was an open expression of fear and concern. Jeremy was taken aback; he'd never seen the Squip show anything more than hints of an emotion, but here they were.  
Then it was gone, leaving him to wonder if it was only hopeful imagination.  
They walked towards him, and Jeremy was struck by how tall they looked from his viewpoint on the ground. He almost flinched as they stopped in front of him, but held himself still. Their expression was, as usual, unreadable.  
"Are you alright, Jeremy?" They asked. Their voice sounded strained, almost but not quite lacking its usual dry monotone.  
"Wh- What the fuck?" Was Jeremy's quiet, brilliant response. "How did you-"  
"What do you think?" The Squip cut him off a little too sharply, and he shrunk.  
"You... You have no idea, do you?"  
"Not a fucking clue." They sounded frustrated, and Jeremy couldn't stop himself from flinching this time. Their expression softened for a moment, before they turned away stiffly.  
"I... I need to think." They said, before deactivating and vanishing.  
Jeremy was left, head spinning, on the sidewalk. A billion more thoughts sprung into his already crowded head, bouncing around like ping-pong balls. He rubbed his head, trying to just breathe and not be overwhelmed.  
A pained groan caught his attention, and he scrambled over to Rich, who was lying facedown on the pavement.  
"Rich!" He squeaked, his voice cracking painfully. Rich pushed himself up from the ground shakily, Jeremy supporting him by one of his arms. When he looked up, Jeremy winced.  
His cheek was scratched up from the pavement, and his nose was quickly becoming a sickly mixture of purple and yellow. Blood flowed freely from it, smeared across his lips and collecting at the tip of his chin.  
"S'it bad?" He asked groggily. Jeremy winced and gave him a 'so-so' gesture. Rich groaned again and sat back on the pavement.  
"Goddammit," he hissed. "I can't go back to the hospital. I doubt I could fucking afford it, anyways."  
Jeremy scooted so that he was sitting across from him, still shaking.  
"You scared the shit out of me," he admitted. Rich gave a dry chuckle.  
"I do that." He paused then narrowed his eyes and sat up, looking around the parking lot. "Where'd the son of a bitch get off to?"  
"Probably the bathroom. I... I think he shit himself." Jeremy joked, remembering Dustin's terrified expression. He wondered what he'd seen; had the Squip just appeared and yanked Jeremy out of harm's way out of the blue?  
"He... What?" Rich blinked at him, confused. Jeremy cocked his head.  
"Did... Didn't you see what happened?"  
Rich shook his head. "I was lying face down on the cement, remember? What happened? Did Paul Blart show up to kick his ass?" Jeremy hesitated, but decided to just tell him.  
"No, it wasn't mall cop," he chuckled lightly and forced himself to continue. "The... The Squip saved me." He said quietly, staring at the ground.  
Rich went deathly still. For a moment, there was only silence. Then,  
"...What?"  
"I, um, I stepped in front of you and told Dustin to fuck off, and-"  
"Hold on, you did what? Holy shit, Jeremy!" Rich was beaming at him proudly. Jeremy felt a swell of pride in his chest, but continued.  
"Yeah, heh. But, um, then... Basically, he tried to punch me, I guess? But the Squip yanked me backwards, and..." He swallowed.  
"Dustin could see them."  
Rich's eyes turned into dinner plates.  
"What the fuck? That- How?"  
"I- I don't know!" He laughed nervously, hands going up to mess with his hair.  
"Basically, they were doing the weird glitchy thing they do whenever they touch stuff but, like, with their whole body, and then they cracked their knuckles and threatened to beat Dustin the fuck up, and he ran."  
"...Holy shit," Rich whispered. "Where... where are they now?"  
"Deactivated. Something about needing to think, or... Yeah." Jeremy answered.  
Rich nodded slowly, leaning back to lay on the cement.  
"That... That's insane."  
"You're telling me." Jeremy huffed, picking at his chin.  
They sat there for a while, saying nothing. The wind curled overhead, the sky a monotonous mess of greys and whites. Dull green and yellow leaves rustled from their perches on gnarled trees, and the only other sound than their breathing was the occasional passing of cars. One stopped by them and honked, but kept driving when Rich lazily flipped them off.  
"They probably think we're drugged." Rich theorized amusedly. Jeremy raised his eyebrows.  
"We should probably move, then."  
"Where would we go? What could be better than laying in a parking lot?" Rich asked, sighing dramatically and closing his eyes with a grin.  
"There's a Dairy Queen's down the street." Jeremy responded. Rich was already to his feet, stopping only to clutch his head.  
"Dammit," he hissed. Jeremy offered him a hand, but he waved it away. "I'm fine, don't worry. Let's go; I wanna fuck up my health further. Pining Club, move out!"  
Jeremy rolled his eyes and let him go but stayed close to his side as they left the mall parking lot and walked up the road towards the close-by annex. It was close to the school, which meant that there were almost always kids from there hanging around during the week. Some even skipped classes to show up in the 7-11. The tired cashiers never cared. Michael said so.  
"Is that what we're called? The pining club?" Jeremy asked, hoping to change the subject. Rich nodded completely seriously.  
"Hell yeah."  
"Do we have code names?"  
"You're fucked up over Mell, and I'm fucked up over Dillinger."  
"...Are those the code names, or are you just saying that?"  
"If you don't like those, then we can be Bi Bitch #1 and Bi Bitch #2."  
"Oh my god."  
The ridiculous conversation lasted all the way to the Dairy Queen. They got some weird looks when they walked in, Rich especially, and Jeremy bit his lip.  
"Do you think that they're gonna mind that we're... Y'know?"  
"Jeremy, I heard a kid came in here for a blizzard after he'd gotten shot and no one batted an eye. We're fine."  
That sounded like absolute bullshit, but Jeremy snorted.  
"Someone from our school?"  
"Most likely," was the response.  
They ordered two blizzards, Jeremy paying in crumpled bills for both. The cashier was staring at Rich with apprehension, but he only grinned back.  
They found a booth by the window which was relatively clean and settled in. Rich stretched, his arms cracking loudly, and yawned. Jeremy wrinkled his nose as he had to loudly peel his arm off of the mysteriously sticky table, but said nothing.  
"Well." Rich announced after a short bit of quiet. "That was a roller coaster."  
Jeremy nodded, taking a bite of his Blizzard.  
"What'd we learn?"  
"Squips turn into spooky ass ghosts if you try and kill them."  
Jeremy almost choked on his Blizzard, but Rich slammed the table excitedly, earning some glares.  
"Seriously! The warning label said that weird shit happens when you try and shut 'em off, and look at yours! Yours turned into some weirdass malevolent poltergeist or something!"  
"Holy shit," Jeremy whispered.  
"Conspiracy: your Squip is the ghost of Keanu Reeves." Rich said.  
"Keanu's still alive, last time I checked. Also, they don't look exactly like him anymore."  
Rich blinked. "Really?"  
"Yeah," Jeremy said. "I mean, they're still similar, but their face looks different. Their hair's all weird and streaked, kind of like yours, and their eyes, like, glow blue." Now that he was saying it out loud, it really did sound ridiculous. God, his life was just a mess, wasn't it?  
"The true anime villain aesthetic," Rich said thoughtfully, causing Jeremy to choke on his blizzard for real this time.  
"At least it's not literal Dark Kermit," He said once he'd stopped coughing.  
"Oh my god," Rich said, rubbing his face. "Why are you so caught up about this?"  
"Wha- Why do you think?" Jeremy said a little bit too loudly. The elderly lady in the booth across from them gave him a dark look, and he shrunk a bit. Rich followed his gaze and flipped the lady off, ignoring Jeremy’s protests that ‘You can't just flip random people off!’  
"Whatever, man," Rich shrugged before scarfing down the remnants of his Blizzard with enough speed to make Jeremy fear for his safety.  
"Jesus Christ, Rich, slow the fuck down," He said.  
"Sorry, mom," Rich said. Jeremy felt the familiar painful pang in his chest that was becoming rather common, but, as always, ignored it.  
They chatted for a while, the conversation topic going from Squips, to Japan in general, to anime, to furries, somehow, and then to Michael. Furries and Michael unrelated. For the most part.  
"Speaking of Michael," Jeremy said. "Do... Do you think he could drive us somewhere? My house, if you want? I'm not a huge fan of the bus."  
Rich raised his eyebrows. "I don't know, he might not be thrilled that just you and I went to the mall. Specifically, to the Payless." He paused, and his eyebrows dropped. He looked up at Jeremy, his face a question mark. "Wait... Have you... Have you told Michael?"  
Jeremy sat up a little straighter. "Uh- About what?"  
"About... Y'know, the whole Squip deal?"  
Jeremy deflated. He'd hoped Rich wouldn't ask about it. He really didn't want to think about it, if he was being honest with himself.  
"Well.... No, I haven't. I- I was going to tell him, I think, but I just... I didn't want to put him through that again. I didn't want to scare him, y'know? And I was also worried that he'd force-feed me Mountain Dew, which... Wouldn't be fair to the Squip, I guess?" He stopped and took a shaky breath. "And now... I guess it feels too late, because if I tell him now I'll have to admit that I basically lied to his face for a while. About the Squip, nonetheless, and after everything he's done for me..." He stopped and rested his face in his hands, biting his lip. Rich reached out tentatively to pat his arm.  
"I- I get it," he said. "That- That's kind of why it's hard to tell anyone other than you what's going on. I mean... I don't really have the same kind of deal as you, but..." He stopped, and Jeremy knew what was coming.  
"You... have to tell him eventually, Jeremy."  
"I know," Jeremy mumbled, pressing the backs of his hands into his eyes. "I- I just don't know if I'm ready, or if... If I can." He felt stupid. He shouldn't have made such a mess out of things, but he did. He always did.  
"I'll support you when you do." Rich said, and Jeremy knew he meant it.  
They sat there for a while, Jeremy tapping his feet on the tile floor quietly, before Rich spoke up again.  
"Well, the bus doesn't sound great to me either. Should we get him to drive us? Michael?"  
"Uh- Yeah, I guess. I'll... I'll text him." He glanced up at Rich. "Do you wanna come to my house, or…? We can study and shit."  
Rich shrugged.  
"Sure, why not. Probably need to work on my English. Those exams are gonna straight up murder me.”  
Jeremy smiled. "Same. Squip won't get off my ass about them."  
He opened his phone as Rich tried to nonchalantly sneak a bite of his blizzard.  
9:39 [Jeremy] hey can I ask u a favor  
[Michael is now online]  
[Michael is typing...]  
9:44 [Michael] yeah what's up?  
9:44 [Jeremy] can you drive me and Rich to my house  
9:44 [Jeremy] we’re gonna study for exams. You can stay if you want  
9:45 [Michael] uh sure?  
9:45 [Michael] where are you?  
9:46 [Jeremy] DQ  
9:46 [Jeremy] one near the school  
9:47 [Michael] question  
9:47 [Michael] why the fuck are you and Rich at DQ at 9 in the morning  
9:48 [Jeremy] beats lying in a parking lot  
9:48 [Jeremy] come pick us up?  
9:49 [Michael] what the fuck  
9:50 [Michael] ok be there in like 15  
9:50 [Michael] get me a blizzard or some shit  
"He's coming to get us," Jeremy announced, dropping his phone on the table. Rich gave a satisfactory hum.  
"What'd you say?"  
"Asked him to come pick us up. He wanted to know why we're at DQ at, like, 9 in the morning."  
"...What did you tell him?"  
"I said it beats laying in a parking lot."  
"Of course," Rich rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "You know he's gonna go full mom mode when he sees my nose."  
"Yeah. I think we can just tell him the truth on that one."  
"...All of it?"  
Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut. Obviously  
Michael would wonder how he got out without a scratch.  
"Uh, including the part where some teen in a car tried to run him over and he ran."  
It hurt to just openly lie like that, but... What else could he do?  
Tell the fucking truth, maybe?  
Unlikely.  
Rich nodded and sighed. "And what do we tell him about the mall?"  
"We... Went to Hot Topic, I guess?"  
"At 9 in the morning?"  
"Couldn't sleep."  
Rich didn't say it out loud, but Jeremy knew what he was thinking. Michael wouldn't buy it. He would act like he did, but he would know that something was up, and he'd most likely try and figure out what it was. Jeremy couldn't blame him, really, after everything that had happened. He hoped Michael didn't stop trusting him.  
But what reason was he giving Michael to trust him? He was running around spinning lies and then whining when Michael didn't trust him. God, he was a mess.  
"Hey, you... You okay?" Rich asked, and Jeremy jolted out of his thoughts rather abruptly.  
“Um. Yeah.” He stuttered, before standing up sharply. “Michael asked me to get him a Blizzard, so… I’m gonna, y’know… Do that.”  
Excellent English, Jeremy. Keep up the great work.  
“I can grab it,” Rich offered. “What's he like?”  
“No, it's fine. Just-”  
“Jeremy,” Rich said, and Jeremy realized that he wasn't going to win. He wondered what Rich was up to, but there was no use in straight up asking him.  
“He gets the Cookie Dough one,” he mumbled, defeated, and Rich gave him a victorious grin.  
“Glad to hear he has his flavor choices straight. Just hope the cashier doesn't kick me out for having a bloody nose.”  
“I thought someone walked in here with a gunshot wound?” Jeremy couldn't help but add. Rich rolled his eyes and finished pulling a wadded up bill out of his pocket, jumping the back of the booth and trotting over to the register like a finely groomed show pony. The teen behind the register rubbed her eyes when she saw him coming, and Jeremy couldn't help but sympathize.  
The distraction that was Rich Goranski temporarily out of the picture, Jeremy focused on steeling himself for Michael’s arrival. He couldn't let anything slip. If he was going to tell Michael, it would be on his own terms, and certainly not now. Right now, there were just… Too many questions that desperately needed answers. Too many unknowns. Too many ‘I don't know’s that would scare the hell out of Michael.  
They scared the hell out of him, too.  
He rubbed his face, staring blankely out the window at the Dairy Queen's parking lot. It was mostly vacant, and understandably so. No one else was at the Payless or Hot Topic or getting into fights in the mall parking lot or showing up battered and bruised at Dairy Queen at 9 in the morning. No one except two messed up kids who acted like they were on drugs, which, in a way, they were.  
He thought about Michael, pulling up into the Dairy Queen's before Jeremy was even usually up on weekends to see him and Rich sporting bruises and refusing to give straight answers to anything. Michael, who had already been through enough, having to go through more.  
Michael deserved better. So much better.  
He decided not to think about Michael, even though part of him liked visualizing that tired but exhilarated grin.  
Honestly, it only made him feel worse.  
Luckily, the Universe didn't totally have it out for him at the current moment, and Rich chose that time to slide into the seat across from him and break him out of his thoughts. Jeremy had never been more grateful.  
“Cashier doesn't know what to think of me,” Rich said, dropping a Cookie Dough Blizzard onto the table with a wink. “Think she thinks I'm gonna hold her up or something.”  
“Put that on your bucket list,” Jeremy muttered. “Get held up by a leprechaun.”  
“I heard that.”  
“Leprechauns have excellent hearing.”  
Rich pretended to be horrifically insulted, his face reminiscent of even Christine’s best acting. Jeremy wondered why he didn't do the plays more; even if he was being silly, he had a knack for acting.  
“Unbelievable,” he was saying when Jeremy started paying attention again. “I paid for your crush’s drink, you ass!”  
Jeremy immediately tried to reimburse him, but he refused.  
“Nah, I don't want your soggy bills. You'll just owe me a favor in the future.” He winked, and Jeremy was about to ask him what that meant when his phone buzzed.  
10:07 [Michael] im here  
10:07 [Michael] get in the car  
“He's here? Damn, he's fast,” Rich said with a grin, not even needing to read the text. Jeremy rolled his eyes and grabbed the Blizzard off of the table, catching up with Rich at the door.  
They headed out to the parking lot where, sure enough, Michael’s battered PT Cruiser was puffing smoke and humming. Michael himself was in the front seat, staring at them expectantly.  
“I’ll let you take the front seat,” Rich said, thumping him on the back and opening the car door.  
“You're not old enough to ride in the front seat,” Jeremy responded, opening the front door and sliding into the passenger’s seat. It was as easy as breathing; he'd forgotten how many times he'd sat here before.  
Michael made some sort of strangled noise, and Jeremy turned quickly, only to find that what Rich said was true.  
“What the fuck,” he said loudly. “Did you do?”  
“You're blocking the road.” Rich responded, just as loud, and Jeremy was suddenly afraid of what being in a car with just of the two of them, specifically with Michael in mom mode, would do to his eardrums.  
Michael huffed, but stepped on the gas and pulled onto the main road. Jeremy noticed how his hair was all stuck-up and curly, unlike how it looked when it was gelled, and how his glasses were somewhat askew.  
Oh. Whoops.  
“Oh, shit,” Jeremy said, eyes wide. “Did we- Shit, I didn't mean to wake you up, I swear.”  
“S’fine,” Michael mumbled. “You can make it up to me by explaining why the fuck you were at Dairy Queen’s at 9 am-”  
“10,” Rich interjected. Michael ignored him.  
“-and why the fuck you two look like you got in a fight? What the hell happened?”  
“Exactly what you said,” Rich said. “A fight.”  
Michael’s eyes went wide, his glasses almost slipping off the brim of his nose.  
“Richard Goranski and Jeremiah Heere, what the fuck have you done?”  
“How many times do I have to say we got in a-”  
“Jesus fuck, I know you got in a fight, Rich! Over what? With who? You can't just say, ‘oh, we got in a fight’, and just leave it at that!”  
“Told you,” Rich said to Jeremy, who rolled his eyes.  
“It was Dustin. Kropp. From school.” Jeremy said, hoping to alleviate some of the tension. Michael relaxed a little bit, probably from the hope that Rich hadn't been the one to start it.  
“Oh,” Michael said. “What did he…?”  
“Came at us, started barking names and grabbed Rich’s arm,” Jeremy answered. “Rich started talking back so he punched the shit out of him. I… I tried to stand up for him, and he almost got me, but… Uh…” Shit, what was the story again.  
“This fuckin’ kid came in a pickup and tried to run him over.” Rich said with a grin, and Jeremy almost felt alarmed at how easily Rich seemed to tell the lie believably. He couldn't help but wonder how many times Rich had done so before.  
“Yeah. Saved our asses, I guess,” Jeremy continued. Michael blinked at him owlishly.  
“So… Dustin Kropp came to pick a fight at like, eight in the morning, at… Where was this?”  
“...The mall,” Jeremy said quietly. As he'd expected, this caught Rich’s attention.  
“The mall? Why… were you at the mall so early in the morning?”  
Jeremy and Rich both shrugged at the same time.  
“Woke up early to Dad doing his usual shit,” Rich said. “Saw him online and asked him to hang out.”  
“Oh.” Was the response, and Jeremy knew he was skeptical but not wanting to pry.  
“So… You got in a fight, so you went to Dairy Queen?”  
“It was open,” Jeremy offered.  
Michael sighed, defeated. “Tell me you at least got me a Blizzard, right?”  
Jeremy offered up the Cookie Dough Blizzard, and Michael breathed out a joking sigh of relief.  
“Thanks,” he said softly, and Jeremy saw Rich wink at him in the rear-view mirror. Goddammit, it was like having the Squip’s remarks all the time.  
“No problem, man,” He responded, ignoring both Rich and the way his heard kind of did a weird fluttery thing whenever Michael smiled at him. “Thanks for picking us up.”  
“Anytime.” Michael said and turned up the radio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's a bit all over the place, but bear with me
> 
> You want answers? So do they but nobody seems to have them do they 
> 
> *all Hot Topic items are actual things I've seen*
> 
> If anything seems ooc or there are grammar/spelling issues, please tell me! google docs is annoying 
> 
> (Also formatting might be wonky. Half of this was written in notes, and the other half was part Word and part google docs. Help me.)
> 
> Thanks for reading!! <3


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